The Ominous Wind Was Rising-Look, the Storm Was Gathering

The night passed quickly.

Because Murphy had to enter the biopod every few hours to purge the toxins, he couldn't stay with Triss until dawn after she fell asleep from exhaustion at midnight.

But physical fatigue couldn't suppress the joy in his heart. As Murphy got up and picked his clothes off the floor, he glanced back at the duchess in bed.

She was facing away from him, her smooth back beautiful as a work of art.

Murphy reached out and touched her skin without desire, gently tracing the scar down from Triss's neck. The touch made Triss murmur in her sleep, but she didn't stop him.

They both knew what the scar she refused to have removed represented.

It had once been a line between them, but now they had crossed it and truly belonged to each other. The pain of the past that the scar represented had faded along with it, though of course it hadn't vanished completely.

Until Luna was dealt with for good, Triss and Murphy couldn't yet relax and enjoy their new life.

Murphy shook his head, pulled the blanket over Triss, then coughed as he flicked the Omniscience device into its astral guide-cane form and left the bedroom for the biolab to purge his toxins.

As he rode the elevator down underground, he happened to see Maxim climbing out of the biopod.

The monster's weakness had been completely purged. And when Murphy saw him, the bloodline connection that had once existed between them was gone without a trace. They were like strangers.

It left Maxim deeply unsettled.

Wrapped in a bath towel, he hesitated, seeming to want to say something.

"How does freedom feel, Max?"

Murphy broke the silence first.

"Terrible! It feels like I've lost my purpose and direction in life. You know,