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He threw her a look that told her he didn't believe her He knew she was being petulant “Well, I didn't lie about Naruto I really did enjoy it”

She scoffed “Yeah right”

“Eden-”

“Noah, leave it,” Valeria interrupted and Eden twisted her head around to stare at the ancient warrior Valeria was a tall, leggy, exotic wohly two thousand years old and one of ten members of the immortal Warriors of Ankh Board of Authority – it was called The Circle The Circle was put in place to rule and organise, not only themselves, but also their brethren - the vastly more populated mortal Warriors of Neith, without whom the Ankh would not exist A Warrior of Ankh could only be borne by the Neith, identified by the Ankh-shaped birthmark all Ankhs were born with on their body The Ankh child was proiven to a member of the Ankh to be raised as their own In Eden's case, her father, Ryan, a particularly perverse and evil soul eater, kidnapped Eden's mother, Merrit, a Warrior of Ankh, and raped her All because he'd read soed to i a soul eater so strong it had taken theto create his own little super race of soul eaters, Ryan experimented with Merrit and the experied to escape back to her husband However, Ryan found her and had the babe cut from her body and she died The babe he took hoendary child of mixed blood called the Unforeseen Eden Eden was the Unforeseen Not that she'd known any of this until Noah cao, struck up a FAKE friendship with her, broke her heart, destroyed her life and handed her over to the Ankh

That last part she couldn't be h

Her eyes caught Valeria's and a powerful understanding flowed between theo, Valeria had been one of the Unforeseen as well, but her guardian, Cyrus, discovered a cure for the hunger, a cure that destroyed the soul eater heritage and made the Unforeseen a pureblood Ankh The cure was blood itself The blood of the Unforeseen's human bloodline

“I',” Noah snapped “She spoke to me”

“Oh please” Eden rolled her eyes

“Eden”

The warning ruinated frouiltily as Cyrus frowned at her reprovingly He knew she was deliberately trying to bait Noah She'd barely known Cyrus teeks and she felt as if he knew more about her than anybody else Well perhaps not as well as Noah, but he was certainly getting there He told her it was because she was so much like her mother Merrit And Merrit had been Cyrus' wife

Now Cyrus was her guardian

In a way she couldn't have asked for a better guardian Cyrus was the Princeps The leader of The Circle, and theall warriors He was also about twenty five hundred years older than her which made him possibly the uy called Darius she had never ave over the title of Princeps to Cyrus because he was sick of the politics and just wanted to kill soul eaters Sounded like a fun guy

“Cyrus, she didn't do anything,” Valeria interceded casually, drawing her legs down off the leather sofa so Cyrus could take a seat

“She's baiting Noah”

Eden bit her lip, her cheeks feeling a little war around this dude

“She's not, I'rowled in his direction He shrugged

“Eden, do you need the drug?” Cyrus asked, sitting back casually “We have been on the plane for hours”

“Are we nearly there yet?”

“Another hour”

Good She couldn't wait to get off the da It was her first time on a plane but truth be told the excited enjoyment she'd felt had quickly dissipated after the first two hours The jet was spacious and she had been able to walk about, but it was still like being stuck in a fat, stylish tube for 6 hours

Only another hour And then she would be in Scotland where she would meet her Neith family and have the eldest of the line's blood transfused into her That would hopefully begin her transition froet past all the hu for her to take them

“Eden?”

She bit her lip and nodded “Yeah, I need the drug”

Chapter One

Divine Approval

They were inside the non-descript rented Volvo barely twoaway from the Leuchars'

airfield in the tourist town of St Andrehen Cyrus' cell rang He flipped it open and answered i the car over to the side of the road Eden absently took in the open country around them She'd been instantly enamoured by the crisp, fresh air of Scotland, and already used to the soan, wasn't bothered by the cool, grey day, or the threat of showers in the gradually filling storavel shift as Valeria pulled the Volvo she was driving in behind the

It was then she realised she'd never heard Cyrus sound so reverent before Who was he talking to?

“I do appreciate you co,” he said in a low voice and Eden pricked her sensitive ears, hoping to catch the other side of the conversation As if he knew, Cyrus leaned away fro her a look out of the corner of his eye “Yes” He nodded “Alright Where? No, that is fine, I have a Toht Thirty lanced at her with a thoughtful look