10 KALEN It took everything I had to walk away from Meliantha. The pull drawing me to her refused to budge, so I went against all instinct and moved my feet in the opposite direction. Thankfully, Ryder was with me, and it made things somewhat easier. I thought I was going to die with laughter when I saw Meliantha’s warrior fall flat on his a*s. Ryder scolded me, like the older brother he is, when we made it inside my cabin. I flipped him off and said some distinctively aggressive words back to him. He left me to raid my kitchen cabinets in search of my famous mead. I can brew a mighty good mead and I make it potent as hell. Two tumblers will put a man on his hands and knees. I’ve been that way plenty of times and with the Solstice Ball being tonight, it might not be such a good idea to

