For once, the smell was from the wood fire in the hearth rather than tobacco or other intoxicants. Even the air was clearer here but Gillen could not ...redit the tavern with that; tobacco use ate at the capacity of the lungs – and knights needed their lungs. Since a bit more than half the patrons – eleven of the twenty – were her and her knights, the air would have to be clearer. She admitted to herself the wood fire smoke gave the place the cozy scent of home and hearth; tobacco smoke would. Shit, it even gets governments elected. But it sure as hell isn’t nuclear. It’s so day-to-day. Not like nuclear….it can’t be day-to-day. This relationship was nuclear and it could fuck you up. He knew that. You had to make damn sure no-one knew you were drawing on that power. And one day, when all the good shit was gone from the power source, you had to bury the spent stuff. Deep. Deep down where no-one is going to find it. Not now, not ever. Because the laws against its use are retrospective. . “Of course Kelly, you would make it more fun if you join.” He said. “Wow Will, I really like your way of training Valerie, bringing mom and me into the fold, unlike dad which he just closes the door and pounds away for the entire month.” “I was not ready for it, I just always assumed dad was going to deflower all of you. Now that it's up to me I'm going to need input from you girls.” Mom slides open the door and tells them dinner is ready. Only Catherine, Kelly, Valerie and Will are at the. The tension in the air was electric as the cars rolled down the backstretch and the pace car veered back into the pits.The hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention once again as the cars filed by us in formation.In an instant, the flagman waved the green flag and the signal lights around the fences turned green. Eighteen cars roared to life and zipped down the front stretch, fanning out and sliding into turn one. From our vantage point we couldn’t see much, other than the top wings, but.