Cortin nodded. "I see he did not tell you he sent her to us. Miss Blackfeather is now Sealed to the Protector, and a part of His team. I cannot offer you either, but should you repent during this part of your punishment, I will see that you die in a state of grace." "Go to Hell, Bitch!" the man mouthed. "Sara, were you able to read his lips?" "No. What was it?" "The usual; he wished me in Hell." Cortin's attention went back to her subject. "That is not my destination. In an attempt to keep you from going there, however, I will provide you the closest approximation I can manage to its torments. You will die painfully here, and continue to suffer afterward--but as long as you live, you have the chance to reject Shayan, make your torment a brief prelude to Heaven." * * * * * After a couple of hours, Cortin could no longer ignore a niggling feeling she'd had since entering the dungeon; she broke off her interrogation, signaling Odeon and Blackfeather to join her in the suite's office. "You feel him too, huh?" Odeon asked, as soon as the door closed behind him. "I feel something like being watched, yes. It's not Sara, but she's the only other person here--what 'he' are you talking about, and how could he be watching anything?" "Shayan," Odeon said flatly. "There's a different feel to his mind-touch--I couldn't sense any menace from him--but after what he did to me, I can't mistake his identity." "Shayan!" Cortin and Blackfeather exclaimed in unison. "But I didn't sense anything," Blackfeather continued. "I would've thought any time he was around, physically or otherwise, I'd know it." Odeon shrugged. "I can't say about that, Sara--all I know is what I've just told you. He's watching us, for whatever reason, yet I feel very strongly that he's not going to interfere." He rubbed the scar across his mouth, frowning in puzzlement. "Impossible as it sounds, I get the impression he intends to help us somehow. Not that he likes us--any but Sara, anyway. The feeling's more like . . . it's vague, not based on deliberate communication, but I'd call it something like a determined, if reluctant, alliance." Cortin frowned. "Are you sure?" "It's vague, like I said, but I'm as sure as I can be under the circumstances. I don't think it's possible to lie, mind to mind--could be your truthsense is a special form of telepathy." "Shayan helping us. That doesn't sound possible." Cortin paused, still frowning. "I hate to ask, Mike, and I'll understand if you don't want to--" "But you'd like me to ask him directly." Odeon rubbed the back of his neck, sighing. "Okay. Just don't be surprised if I go into another funk." He turned his attention to the Hell-King. *You've been listening; you know what I want.*