Chapter Fifty-One

The first-rank council members discreetly withdrew from the dancing, singing, and mingling, gathering at the meeting place Ronin designated deeper into the forest. Guards roamed the perimeter, ensuring that only those selected could enter.

One by one, they arrived and offered fealty, inclining their heads to Ronin and Liora.

“Where’s Maia?” Liora looked around the quiet creek to see if she was in the distance.

“I’m here!” Maia called from behind. Her dark rouge dress was hiked up to her knees as she sashayed towards them, “Vyenít Georgiou was determined to trample every last one of my toes with that oafish display he called dancing.”

“Goddess, I can’t stand those Vyenese,” Lucien spat. “No offense, Maia.”

“None taken. I don’t consider myself much of a Vyeni anymore. I don’t think I could live with my panties in a perpetual bunch.”

“That’s just cause you don’t wear any.” Thaddeus drawled, giving her a salacious once over. He grunted when Xander clapped him on the back of his head.

“