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"Wait," the woman said to the men She held out a hand to Chris "Coh lord turned out to be anext to a pretty petite woman and another man hite-streaked black hair

"It seems Locksley has sent this female to speak with you, my lord," the black wo"

"She is too late"

Chris turned to see the contessa standing beside the fountain "She’s gone crazy," sheto kill everyone"

"We aze shifted to Richard "Good evening, lanced at Richard, who had pulled back his hood His face seemed to be part man, part cat "She has a vial of her sister’s tears" she said quickly "She’s going to use them to kill you"

The Kyn all around theh lord said with icy politeness "What are you doing here?"

The contessa gave hi e her death on you and your six butchers"

Richard nodded "Very well You should know that I and I alone gave the coive you er the innocent" He held out a wide, blunt-fingered gloved hand "Give me the vial"

"What was Beatrice, if not innocent?" Salva asked, taking out the vial and holding it over the fountain "She starved herself so that she would not kill Did you know that, my lord? We had to drain mortals and pour the blood down her throat to keep her fro to death"

"Oh, God" Chris reht from Rome, and realized then what the contessato dump the tears in the water"

"Contessa," Braxtyn said, her voice tight "You know that our fountains are fed by springs If you put that poison into the water, you will release the Black Death upon thethat the Kyn should know the agony my sweet Beatrice suffered" Salva smiled "There will be no more mortals upon whom you can feed You will all starve, as she did, or become as the beasts you are inside"

An arrow sliced past Chris’s face, burying itself in the contessa’s arhtened and fu the top from the vial

Chris didn’t think; she ran, her hands outstretched to grab the vial A second arrow carabbed Chris, locking her ar off her air "Stay away frorabbed her free hand, holding the vial upright "Let it go"

Salva struggled wildly, trying to tip the vial into the fountain As it spilled, Robin dove under her hand, forcing her hand to his mouth With one s, he drank the contents of the vial

The contessa screae jerk Chris saw a tiny drop of blood fly from the lip of the vial to land on Salva’s cheek The red stain raced across her skin, covering her head and turning her eyes solid scarlet

The contessa dropped like a stone, taking Chris with her

Chris shoved the dead woman away and crawled over to the fountain Robin lay half in, half out of the water, his skin already turning dark pink

"Robin"

He opened his eyes, the copper irises fading to scarlet-tinged amethyst "Did any of the tears touch you?"

Unable to speak, Chris shook her head

He s… for you… love Take… your… tiain

Alex helped the redheaded mortal woman pull Robin’s inert body out of the fountain

"Someone tell me what this stuff he sed is," she yelled as she rolled Locksley onto his back

"Poisoned tears," the redhead told her "It kills Kyn on contact"

"Not this time" Alex wrenched open Robin’s shirt "He’s still breathing Richard"

The high lord came to kneel beside Robin "He sed the tears" He sounded as if he were dazed

"What difference does it make?"

He focused on Alex’s face "I cannot say No one has ever done this"

"All right Let ainst her face before letting theen is present in our saliva, blood, and body fluids Itto counteract the poison" She surveyed Robin’s skin and the pink flush that was growing deeper and darker by the moment "What’s the antidote for this stuff?"

"There is none," Richard said softly