We emerged from the portal in the middle of a large comfortable living room with gilded walls, thick burgundy curtains on a huge window, a long leather sofa and a glass coffee table in front of it.

Vatiel's bodyguards dejectedly walked out the door, and servants fussed around us - young elves in their twenties, throwing curious glances at me.

“Serve supper here—for me and Mrs. Lightineris!” - having seated me on the sofa, Vatiel ordered and with a barely noticeable displeasure glanced at Theodore. “Alexandra, do you mind if I send your slave to the kitchen to be fed, and you and I can talk in peace?” - the...