Chapter 119: Connected, Part 5
Håkon jerked awake, gasping for breath, wiping tears from his eyes when he realized why he couldn't see. He sat up as he heard the castle bells tolling. By their pattern, it was the Hour of Passion, the twenty-fourth hour of the day, when everyone was finally to bed, be it to sleep or engage in those activities which had given the hour its name. In some circles, it was called the Hour of Hell, for it began the period of time when hellish magic was at its strongest and holy magic at its weakest. Many new and illegal mages believed the Hour of Blood was when hellish power was strongest, but it was only called that because it was when dusk began to fall and the Princes of the Blood, always sensitive to sunlight in some measure, could begin to comfortably wander about outside.