"I am a common girl," she replied. "What difference would it have made if I told you? A lot of them grab and grope us. They see us in the courtyard or...even inside the walls of the castle and they paw at us. Symington is among the worst but he is far from the only one. I'm not the only one it happens to, either. Just about any of us who are attached to one of the Emertland trainees is subject to it." What does Pernice say about this ridiculous habit of theirs?" Denae asked harshly.Rayna looked. ”“Monsters, unlike humans, have all the skills they need inside their bodies. Gods only play a role in bringing those skills out or adding some that they shouldn’t have. Whitesmiths find the part of the monsters that have these skills and turn them into something worshipers can use in combat or in daily life.”“Like a monster core or something.”“Kind of. I helped open the monsters to find the parts. My Force Hammer made it easy. Sometimes there was a bead or a large ball but most of the time it. I was now in my second semester, my first full year in university, and I had studied my ass off! I was ready to get away from the university for a while, at least until the new semester began. I had a long drive ahead and I could not wait to get home to family, especially to visiting my granddaddy. My granddaddy and I had a very special relationship. It was more than a granddaughter-grandfather relationship. At first, I admit, it was that type of relationship, but the older I got, my. Listen.”It would have been dead quiet regardless as Roy faced the absurd and morbid reality by getting a closer look at Riley’s peaceful face and the unmistakable strangulation bruises on her neck. The only sound Corbin could be referring to came from the bathroom: a lazy buzzing sprinkled with beeps.Roy was so relieved to see Riley casually walk out of the bathroom that it took him a second to notice she was fully nude. His eyes darted back once to the body on the floor, making sure it was.