Athena spared no gaze for her two children. Instead, she snarled. “Like hell you are taking my children away from me. What they need is a mother who loves them, not a father who just wants to mold his offspring into perfect little Danes!” She was breathing hard. “Get out of my lands, peacock. Get out and never come back. Do you think I’m going to honor a deal that was never sealed in the first place? They’ll thank me, one day. They will look back and be glad they never met their vile vampire father. Get out before I burn you alive!” The Athena of old would never have threatened this. The old queen was kind, an absolute pushover, a caring spirit. But it had only taken one night after the stress of a war to change this. The mind that had once been bright and strong was now giving to insanity. Slowly, then . . . faster. There was no mistaking it. Athena was far beyond just anger. “F u c k off, peacock, go back to your Dane king and his obedient pawn of a queen!” she growled. Fire consumed her body. “GO!” Her flames whipped into the air, five inches high. She ignored any fear Asmo or Vryko might have shown. All she wanted was Kublai’s fear. She wanted to burn him alive. She wanted to hear his screams. And after that, she wanted to punish her children, burn that icy snowhole of Tarben to a crispy husk. She knew no sense anymore. Flames licked at the air, so hot that the air sizzled.

“I’m losing it, all I get’s insanity, insanity!”