"You won’t feel a thing. Honestly. Apart from the ever-present possibility of instant but agonizing death evaporating from your aura." Serrin grinned. With Kristen asleep and wrapped securely in the protection of his arms, he felt able to jest. He was certain that Hessler would be able to deal with the problem. The joking was a way of defusing his own anxieties about the ritual, and what it would cost him.