... but at what cost?"Then he spoke aloud to himself "Is it truly living when you know that once every ten years you must betray someone who loves you... dearly to buy another ten years of life?"How many had he betrayed over the centuries? How many had gone down into the realm of the keeper of the dead so that he could continue to walk the earth? Would this be the year that, on the festival of the dead, he would refuse, and would himself be embraced by the formless arms of the keeper of the. "I am not at all happy with the means by which Overlord Freya did so."Doran counted that as a small victory. He knew he was tipping Roquan's hand by revealing that they knew of the eavesdropping spell on the pearl. But he had gambled that Trennan's integrity was such that he would view Freya's actions with disgust, and he had won. Now he gambled that Trennan would keep that bit of knowledge to himself."Yes, but I see you use it to your own advantage," said Doran."Only because I weighed the two. I have a regular network of clients who rely on me to present them to the world looking their best. I get a lot of referrals from my regulars and occasionally will get a call from someone who has found me through my early advertising on Craigslist. I don't have to advertise any more because I am just about at a maximum of people that I have time to do well. It takes time and thought to make someone look awesome, but, when my clients need to look their absolute best, that is what I give. I climbed on behind him and rode the machine back up to the hole with him leaning back against me.When I got to the hole, Errol’s face was just poking above ground level. He took one look at us and shouted to someone below him in the hole, “It’s as we feared! Go get Chiam and Liam, then find Ninnith and Grandfather!”He scrambled up out of the hole and helped me drag Remus off the ATV.“Where’s Romulus?” he demanded.I nodded down the hill and gave him the bad news. “I’m afraid he’s dead. You get.