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Esai had been noticeably quieter since then. He was probably replaying things in his head over and over again, wondering if it could have gone differently.

Or perhaps just reveling in the accomplishment.

That was how it had been for Raul. A bit of both. Conflicting feelings.

He shouldn't feel good about taking a life. But it was well justified. Abolish had it coming. Absolutely.

Why should he feel bad or guilty about delivering justice? Someone had to.

But that line of thinking was a slippery slope, he knew. He had to keep a clear head about these things. All those stories about servants losing their minds after so many years--he was already starting to see why that might be the case.

Power really was a terrifying thing, wasn't it? And he didn't even have that much yet.

Perhaps that was why Cousin Melchor had always refused to lead House Blackburn. The man already had enough power and didn't want more.

If so, then Raul could admire that decision.

Regardless, none of that was on his mind at the moment. The only thing that concerned him right now was getting through this VMP installation without alerting anyone to his presence.

It made for quite the imposing sight, too, as he approached. Nestled between two cloud-tipped mountains, the compound was blocking the only passage forward for a hundred miles or more. There was no way he could climb those sheer cliffs without undead vigor or his alteration ability over friction--and the latter would involve creating about a hundred landslides and avalanches in order to reshape the terrain.

Which wouldn't be very stealthy of him. And would almost certainly kill any hapless bystanders in the area.

He thought about provoking a landslide nearby just to draw some of the personnel out of the fortress before sneaking through it, but eh, that would probably be more trouble than it was worth, he figured. And sure, this area seemed pretty desolate, but it would still be dangerous.