Peniel

[Valeriya]

Valeriya looked upon the empty place where the ghost from their vision previously occupied. One brow rose and she snorted with contempt. “Those who follow titles are fools. I follow the man,” she said and knelt to one knee, aware that she was slipping from the shade of the White Eye behind her. There, she looked up into the face she knew better than her own (there were no mirrors in The Below). “I follow you because you are great, not because you are the Great One,” she kissed his knuckles reverently, but his proclamation for her restraint teased a tempting smile to her lips. “I make no such promises. If Patricus behaves, his skin will remain intact,” she said.