"Thane," Ashlynn said gently, smiling at the vampire knight kneeling before her. "I need something special from you. Will you indulge your little sister in a selfish request?"
"Speak the words," Thane said with a smile on his soft lips that was bright enough to dazzle anyone looking at him. "However I can help, you have but to ask."
"I broke my sword facing Ansgar, High Lord of the Seven Peaks," she said, placing her hand on the hilt of Thane's outstretched sword. She left out that Ansgar had been a ghost possessing Hauke. There were some things, after all, that shouldn't be said in front of the broader audience, but it was true that she had faced off against a former Frost Walker High Lord and lost her darksteel Falchion in the process. "He was weakened but he used a powerful blade of eternal ice and his techniques were better than mine in every way."
