Song: Two Feet - I Feel Like I'm Drowning (aka seriously the Julian theme, I hear this song and it's so Julian it's not even funny)
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Vyssen's estate was very different from Julian's.
Apparently, when you're a lord or lady you have an estate to call your own. To live in it to be close to the city or region you represent and protect.
Where Julian's was full of flowers, bursting with life - Vyssen's was dead.
Just like the Underworld of the books I'd read as a child, just like Julian had said - nothing living flourished.
Vyssen waited for us at the entrance of her large manor in the flowing red dress like before. She was beautiful and deadly - her aura and her eyes confirmed it. Her green eyes cut through me as they raked over me once I got off my horse and followed Julian up the steps to her manor.
"Really?" Julian asked as he approached her. "This is how you're going to greet me? As if I were any other Lord?"
She crossed her thick arms. Everything about her was voluptuous. I'd always had issues keeping weight as a child then as a teen, so much so that I would kid around that I looked like a skeleton. She was the opposite, her arms were thick, her curves dangerous.
I envied her beauty.
"I will greet you this way, Lord of Skryen, since you seem to covet that title over me."
Her words stung. She didn't show her pain in her perfect features or her voice. She had a mask of discontent, smugness but somehow I could feel her pain though we'd never met.
Julian's shoulders tensed. "Vy," his voice was soft. "We need to talk."
She turned her attention from him to me. "Yes, let's talk." A snake-like smile curled her lips and suddenly I felt very cold. "What can I do for you?"
"Your Hellhounds, Vy, what happened?"
A small frown pinched her brows. Her eyes scanned between us. "My Hellhounds are fine. Locked away beyond the Gates."
Julian shook his head. "They escaped. They appeared in Skryen on Saddaim."
Vy looked away but didn't move from her position. She shook her head. "No, they couldn't have been. I'd been to them just that morning. They were still locked away."
Julian was gentle as he spoke to her. "Vy, right now they are in Skryen under my Guards' watch. They are safe - everyone - is safe but we need to talk about why they were there in the first place."
The worry on her face was evident. "I have to bring them back."
Julian nodded. "Yes. I'm here to help you with that."
Slowly, she nodded. "All right."
Julian let out a long sigh. "That's not all." He gestured to me. "This is Emylin, Lady of Elendil, last of the Light Fae."
