The crone leaped back, her eyes wide. There was fear there, but anger led the brunt of the emotions. Among said emotions were still lust and curiosity. So was love and concern. This was not how the night should be going, but there didn't seem to be any way to escape it.
She pulled up a fire ball and glared at the one called Lief. She had heard stories of a tarbaby doing this same thing. She'd seen creatures consume another in such a fashion; taking the food in only to become it for a time.
"You will let him go! Or I will burn you and the world to cinder!" The fire ball danced in, sparking as if a tiny sun experiencing flares. The power in the room seemed to feed the fire ball, and the crone quickly dismissed it before she lost control.
There was something else. That nagging feeling again. It demanded she watch. It demanded this was the path that they were now on, and she shouldn't fight it, which pissed her off even if she did know that the nagging feeling was right. The fact that the bond seemed to be twisting, as if she could see it split and combine over and over around them didn't help matters. There was another there in the bond she shared with Eric.