"I'm surprised, my darling," Nyrielle said as staff from the arena cleared away the bodies once Laya and the other Clanless vampires had finished feeding. "I didn't think you would be so calm around such a bloody spectacle. You were much less comfortable when we left the Vale," she added.
Ashlynn had stood next to Nyrielle for the entire battle, gently holding her lover with one hand around her waist while the other hand gripped the rail. All through the fight, Nyrielle had listened carefully to the beat of her lover's heart and watched her hand on the rail, but Ashlynn's heartbeat never faltered and her grip on the rail remained loose and comfortable, as if she wasn't disturbed in the slightest.
"I've come to the arena every day for the past ten days while Heila has faced challengers sent by the merchant Yotsun," Ashlynn said mildly. "I may have been uncomfortable at first, particularly when High Lady Erna suggested 'feeding' the condemned criminals to Tausau's progeny but…"
