"Being involved with the Hellfire Club doesn't protect me in any meaningful way. You might as well be honest about your ambitions." Stephanie replied. "You want power, it's been bred into you since you were a child." It's not like I'm without ambitions myself, it's simply that I decided that the Hellfire Club was too dangerous and evil a road to follow.

"Alistaire. Don't be cavalier about Selene. Father made you leave her court and cut your ties. At best she will feel that she owes you nothing. Whatever you do, do not underestimate her. She's been around for thousands of years. Nobody does that unless they are as cunning as they are powerful."

Stephanie hoped that he actually understood that, how dangerous it was, to simply be around her but to assume that things would go back to where they were.