. I had hoped to do all this unseen, but just before I uncloaked, the door opened in front of me. Fortunately, it was Sir Belgar. Although he did blink and his hand did travel to his sword for a moment, it was all reflex, because he hadn’t expected a sudden appearance right in front of him. But, Belgar already …

. Genette was waving at me from a short distance away. I turned and nodded to her, so she approached. “Young Mistress, you have a caller. The house is still in disorder. Shall I bring tea to the pavilion?” “He came here already?” I asked, a little stunned that this was happening so soon. Genette understood what I was thinking …

. It did occur to me later that when Dana said ‘customer’ she might have actually meant ‘hiring a girl to feed her vampire daughter’, but I was now stuck with the possibility that Mother has been carrying on with a (female) prostitute. I honestly did not need that mental image. It was stuck in my head in the morning …

. I managed to not let the sensations on my back cause me to emit any weird sounds as I replied, in what was probably a pretty weak voice, “I’m still a maiden, Miss Dana. Please don’t do that.” To my Tiana side’s great consternation, my Robert side was all for the idea. But I still felt like I would …

. As I expected, packing for school was an enormous chore. After all, I had already gone through the experience, when Robert headed off to college for the first time. But I never expected to be told that I was in the way, and please go read a book or something. I forgot. The daughter of a duchess is as …

. Caught as I was in such a strange situation, I didn’t know what to do next. I stayed in place as she declared, “My Lady, please accept my deepest apologies. I accepted from you such a promise when I knew you would be unable to keep it. We vampires bear too great a burden to place additional burdens upon …

. “I, Tiana of the High Forest, First Daughter of the House of Pendor and daughter of the Lady Sasara, Duchess Pendor, humbly raise my hand in acceptance of your benevolent request. With a warm heart, my ears have received your proposal of marriage with deepest affection. With… with…” As I bunched up my brow, growing confused, I heard the …

And with that final word from the HR Manager, Volume 2 comes to an end. Fushigi is here with you again, Dear Readers. Also known as the author, Eric Fretheim, also known as Eric the Fred, also known as … just kidding. I hope you’ve been enjoying reading about the life and times of Lady Tiana. Volume 2 is complete …

Allia never rose from her seat. She stared down at me for a long time. I could feel an alarming amount of mana circulating within her, so I prepared myself. Finally, I had to say something. I thought of reminding her that she needed to respond, one way or the other, but she already knew that. Instead, I told her …

. I didn’t learn until we were already in Bray Seaport that I had someone else to dread meeting. I paid to put Arken and company up in a decent inn after realizing they were planning to head to the same seaside dive that we had used when we passed through this town on the way out. I wanted him …