"Have you no respect for human life?" Leah fumed, looking at the dead man beneath his foot. "Get off him!"

"I respect human life," objected Innocen. "It's a beautiful thing. So beautiful, in fact, that I strive to take as much of it as I can, as often as possible."

Leah's jaw clenched.

"Feels great to have something go right for a change," said Innocen. "It seems like I've been stuck one step behind, right from the start. I felt the ethoul arrive on the Gravelands, but ...