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You talked to me!

"I don&039;t know, Christian They&039;ve been apart for thole months I think they deserve a little reacquaintance ti their need for tiether, my love I sie in acts better suited to a more private situation"

Of your own free will you ht I point out that you are the one who detained Kristoff? Personally, if I were Pia, I&039;d juht in front of you just to nity than I do That really h I haven&039;t seen theh was asense of intimacy

Why did you not tellback a few steps, ht be easier in hisfor Alec, but that hadn&039;t really changed anything between us He was stillI could do to change that

"I&039;ize to the varinned at me The others had less pleasant expressions

"If you&039;re quite through?" Christian inquired politely, his eyebrows raised in gentle chastisement

"We haven&039;t seen each other in a while," I said laue hand toward Kristoff "Obviously, there are soh"

"Ones I trust you will discuss at another ti you allow Pia the opportunity to visit me while you have me incarcerated, certainly," Kristoff answered with no little sense of irony

"Nice one," Allie said, nodding approvingly, adding, "What?" when her husband turned a frown on her "I can root for both sides, you know"

"You&039;re supposed to be on nation

"Only when you&039;re right, my little mashed potato of love," she answered

Christian&039;s expression bore an uncanny resemblance to the one I&039;d seen on Kristoff&039;s face, but it slipped away quickly enough when he glanced back toward us, eyeing u I ad how?" I asked, waving toward Kristoff "He was sitting right next to ether-"

"You can&039;t possibly bla that you only did that to stealto tell Alec," Kristoff interrupted me

I rounded on him "Hoas I supposed to know that? You toldme on Alec, and that I was his problem!"

"You just had to set that off, didn&039;t you, Mr Trou-blehed and, before Kristoff could protest, said quickly, "If we could refrain frouuys sound just like Christian and me on a bad day," Allie said in a confidential tone

Christian took exception to that "They do not! We never argue!"

"In your dreams we don&039;t! What about last week, when I wanted to send Josef to a nursery school for so scene where you ranted and raved about hi with mortals?"

Sebastian snickered It distracted Christian from the retort he was clearly about tohis wife an annoyed glance "We have strayed froain"

"I&039;ve told you I&039;es," I said-so to feel the effects of jet lag "I don&039;t know anything about Kristoff&039;s financial status, but I&039;uarantee he hasn&039;t done any e"

" &039;Just about&039;?" the ed

"We haven&039;t known each other very long," I said in a soothing voice before turning back to Christian "Just exactly what proof do you have that either one of us committed such atrocities?"

"There are financial records," Christian said, gesturing toward a file folder lying on the table

"I&039;ve seen them They&039;re clearly false," Kristoff said At a nod froh the paperwork Most of it was financial state su moved from one account to another "Easily created, but not so easily proven"

"There is the matter of your own personal account," Christian said as Sebastian held out a single sheet of paper

"What about it?" Kristoff asked, his brows pulling together "I gave you the access information for my account so you could see for yourself that I do not have an inordinate amount of money"

"I printed this balance state Kristoff a sheet of paper

He took it with a swift intake of breath I peered over his shoulder to read it, e-rate calculation "Holy moly It&039;s too bad we really aren&039;t married-you could really keep me in style with that metric butt-ton of , but as you are a friend of Allie&039;s, I feel I can offer a little entles except in the most obscure terms, and never as a metric butt-ton," Esme chided

"Sorry," I said, a the paper back "I don&039;t have anywhere near as much money as that"

"And yet, the o, just about the time that Alec disappeared," Sebastian said "You&039;ll notice that the amounts deposited over a five-day period correspond exactly with the funds withdrawn from the trusts set up to provide for the families of those slain by the reapers"

"It&039;s not mine," Kristoff repeated with stubborn finality

"You know, it doesn&039;t take a rocket scientist to figure out how to transferKristoff up" I felt obliged to point that out, since it obviously hadn&039;t occurred to anyone else

"Why would anyone want to do that?" Rowan asked "The one to him No one else would benefit frohter than the way I felt I held his gaze fir to all sorts of lengths to get revenge Soht of as close, but who turned out to be a traitor"

Rowan leaped to his feet and was over the table before the last word left my mouth Instantly Kristoff was between us, his hands fisted as he scowled at his cousin

"Oh,the belt of her tattered bathrobe "Fisticuffs!"

"Your Beloved is ill advised to speak thusly to me," Rowan spit

"And you dareme look at him in surprise His lovely lyrical, Italian-accented voice was thick with anger It warmed me that he&039;d be so protective, even when his heart wasn&039;t touched by our bond

"Sit down, both of you," Christian said, sounding weary "What the Zorya says is true"

"My name is Pia," I said somewhat forlornly as I sat back down incalled the Zorya"

"It is what you are," Sebastian pointed out

"Not for long it isn&039;t"

"Zoryas cannot be unmade," he answered with a curl of his lip

I sht way But before I discuss that, I&039;d like to deal with the rest of the ridiculous charges against us"

"It&039;s so nice to see another Beloved who refuses to be a doorh "Remind me to introduce you to Nell You&039;ll love her She doesn&039;t take any crap, either"

"Nell is perfectly charreed, with a look at ainst you were not brought without a his wife a long look "Nor do we htly"

"You sure could have fooledpaperwork that anyone could have faked," I said "You , but I certainly don&039;t And while we&039;re on the subject of this council, can we discuss the fact that you&039;re all so very quick to turn on Kristoff? I&039;d think you would be acquainted with hih to know he isn&039;t the sort of man to embezzle I mean, really! You&039;ve all known hi to do so, I found ain as I expostulated "What sort of friends are you that you are so willing to believe the worst about so? Don&039;t you have any concept of what loyalty means, what it means to call sonored her "Fro , but when it co up for a friend in a ti but lame-asses Yes, you heard me! Lame-asses! Of the er lamest kind!"

I sat doith a hrmphSilence fell heavily in the room It was at thatat-a roo to rid the world of Zoryas

"I really like you," Allie said, applauding Sheher ith one of her own "Oh, don&039;t look atthat I never believed Kristoff would do any of the things you guys believe he&039;s done"

"Tsk," Es her head "Women these days just have no idea about the subtle art of persuasion One never shouts, dear And one certainly never refers to those in a superior position as asses of any kind, no matter whether or not they deserve it"

Christian shot Esretfully at him "I&039;m sorry, dear Christian, but I do believe that in this case, the ladies are right and you gentle but polite and a true gentleentleman would never steal money from others"

"Thank you, Esme," I said with a curt little nod at Christian

"I a to concede that perhaps we have been overhasty with regards to the proof of the financial issue, although I find myself most curious as to how such a sum of money could have found its way into Kristoff&039;s personal account without his knowing Regardless" He held up a hand to stop ree that it would be relatively easy for so to disation into the o," I rumbled

I patted his hand before I could stop ered on the backs of his, capturing theesture that made me flush to the tips of my toes

"However" Christian continued in a louder voice I dragged es do rereeably, trying not to let the feel of Kristoff&039;s thu the back of ot the idea that I killed Anniki, but I certainly did not In fact, it was because of her that I got involved in the first place If she hadn&039;t been mere seconds froreed to beco back in his chair, his fingers tapping ever so lightly on the table

"What sort of a comment is that?" I asked a bit testily

"He means that they all believe you wished to become a Zorya, and you simply took the most expedientthe I can to stop being a Zorya"

"Indeed" Christian pursed his lips slightly "And what, if you do not , would that entail?"

I openedmy time before I finally said, "We&039;ll come to that, but after we&039;ve taken care of your stuff first"

"I have a foreboding suspicion that your issue is very much connected with ours," he answered dryly

"You bet your-" I glanced over to where Es about to impart some of her homey advice "Er you bet"

"Very well As for the situation with the Zorya, she was found in your bathroo her killer is obviously beyond the mortal police; therefore, the crime falls under our jurisdiction We have reviewed the facts, and can come to only one conclusion"

"An erroneous conclusion," Kristoff scoffed "Pia said she didn&039;t kill the Zorya I was hesitant to believe her at first, but I kno that she would not be capable of such an act"

"Thank you," I told hi

"Then who did kill her?" Sebastian asked "You&039;ve stated that you didn&039;t If it&039;s not you or the Zorya, who did?"

I hated to dwell on this, but noas not the tiht"

"Mercy!" Eshtened aroundto rub it in

He said nothing

"We are aware that Alec ith you" Christian inclined his head in an acknowledght out "But he left shortly after two am, and the Zorya did not arrive until approximately three hours after that, whereupon she asked the desk clerk for your rooive it to her, and she apparently left but, in reality, entered the hotel by a secluded side entrance, after which she was seen entering your room"

I blinked at him a couple of times "How on earth do you know all that? Even the police didn&039;t knohat she&039;d been doing before she died"

Kristoff&039;s fingers tightened again "I atching your roo an incredulous look on him "Why?"

"You are a Zorya We had to knohere you were at all times"

My astonishment fizzled into irritation "You lanced toward the other vampires "It was my job to be aware of all movements of the reapers, you included It was not until I realized that you were different that I ceased surveillance"

"You surveyed ed "Like I was a crirace to look embarrassed "Mostly before"

I punched him in the arm " Mostly before? Do you have the balls to sit there and tell ether?"

"Dear, a gentleman&039;s personal accoutrements are neverto find another reaper, and I had no idea if you were just using ht continue," Christian said in ayou!" I was surprised to find myself on my feet I was evenat Kristoff He sat before aunt, but with color in his face now, and his eyes burning with a cool blue heat "If our ht now!"

"Please-" Christian said, but he didn&039;t stand a chance

Kristoff jual, and you can hardly bla me, since you had made it clear you preferred Alec to me, and yet there you were in my bed"

"It wasn&039;t a bed It was a bunch of moldy straw, and don&039;t you dare try to make yourself out to be the victim! I&039;m the one whose trust was abused!"

"I never abused your trust," Kristoff said with a grim note to his normally sensual voice "I didn&039;t believe you were actively working against us, but I knew that the reapers could use you without you being aware of it I was si to protect you and us at the same time"

"You were?" I asked, surprised You really believed h!" bellowed Christian

We both turned to look at hi on an act?" Allie asked him

A flicker of irritation was momentarily visible in his face before histo see your point"

"It takes them a while sometimes," Allie said with a fond set there in the end"

"The fact remains that the Zorya was killed in your bathroo," Kristoff answered abruptly, warotten into her room The door to her balcony was open, and the bathroo the sa thoughtful

"Magda had nothing more to do with Anniki&039;s death than I did," I said

He continued looking thoughtful "No one else was seen entering your roo But ives me the willies, it doesn&039;t mean someone didn&039;t enter" I turned to Kristoff "Where were you watching?"

"Outside, in the garden beneath your "

"That "

He shook his head "I could see both hotel entrances that were still unlocked, and your door through theNo one entered after Alec left"

I thought for a mo, but there was h Magda&039;s room She had a balcony, too"

"It&039;s possible, of course," Christian said "But likely? Why would anyone but you wish to kill the Zorya?"

"Why don&039;t you ask soht to kill Brotherhood members?" I asked somewhat snappishly

"Ooh, she has you there, love htened "Despite what you e our people to murder reapers without a reason We imprison, yes, but that is only for the safety of our people, and as you see, our captives are treated hurant you that, but I&039;d just like to knoe&039;re supposed to prove we didn&039;t do so"

"Inthe killer yourself," Kristoff said

That astounded me "You kno to find a killer?"

"Yes But not in this situation There were only so many people who had access to your rooht over the list Magda and Ray had been asleep in the room next to mine, the one that shared the bathroom But neither of them would have a reason to kill a woman they didn&039;t know That left Alec and Kristoff, but I couldn&039;t believe they had done it

Thank you for the vote of confidence in my moral base

Oh, I don&039;t ht circu a woman like Anniki I just don&039;t think you did

"I really think you&039;re going to have to go with a verdict of death by a person or persons unknown," Es police shows you like to watch when no one is around"

"I do not watch television," Christian said sternly "That is a mortal pursuit"

"Uh-huh Think I didn&039;t discover your secret stash of those British homicide DVDs that are so conveniently hidden in your study?" Allie asked

"Very well," Christian said, obviously ignoring the teasing tone in his wife&039;s voice "I aainst the Zorya pending further evidence But the last charge will not be so easily disround has so Kristoff would holdthe nerve to just take his

His fingers curled aroundlance at him, but his face was impassive, his attention on Christian as the latter reiterated the charges

"I have not seen Alec since he left Iceland Neither has Pia," Kristoff said firmly

"We have evidence to the contrary," Sebastian said with a s little smile

"Evidence? What evidence?" I asked, suddenly worried What if soainst us the way they had against Kristoff?

Christian nodded to Roho rose and left the roonawed my lip a moment as I considered Kristoff "Alec hasn&039;t been in contact with you at all?"

He shook his head "I haven&039;t seen hi to his home in California"

"Where do you live?" I asked, somewhat surprised to hear that the very urbane Alec made his home in California

"Outside of Firenze"

"That&039;s Florence, isn&039;t it? In Italy?"

He nodded as the door opened and Rowan reappeared with Mattias

"First you put ht of ain Your ive in to you Never!" Mattias said in a dramatic fashion "Wife! Have you convinced them yet to set rumbled as Rowan shoved Mattias into a chair "I married her first"

"She&039;s a Zorya, and I am the sacristan A Zorya must be wed to a sacristan in order to have full access to her powers, and since we&039;ve all seen proof that she has those, it is the e to me that is valid," Mattias retorted

"I&039;lower turned even darker

"The discussion of your release hinges, as you have repeatedly been told, on your cooperation," Christian told Mattias in mild chastise Mattias? Perhaps it wouldn&039;t be as hard as I thought to get him to see reason

"You will repeat what you told us earlier"

Mattias&039;s pale blue eyes rested with consideration on me "I will speak only to esture "We can force you to speak"

"You may torture me all you like-I will speak only to Pia!" Mattias yelled

I began to see a way to presentthat connects us with the disappearance of Alec?" I asked the council members

"He stated" Christian shuffled a few papers until he found one he liked "He stated that he kne you and Kristoff were involved in engineering the disappearance of Alec, and where he was now He refused to say any more when pressed"

"Tortured!" Mattias shouted "I was tortured"

"You look just fine tohealth, whereas poor Kristoff had nearly wasted away "I&039;m afraid you&039;ve been had Mattias is either confused or lying"

"Wife!" Mattias sputtered

Kristoff glared at him

"That eventuality crossed my mind, which is e asked you here," Christian answered s

"You know" I looked at Mattias hat I hoped appeared as innocent speculation "If you were to release hiet fro he knows"

Both of Christian&039;s eyebroent up at such a bold suggestion Sebastian scowled and said in a voice rife with scorn, "Although we have not done so, despite what the reaper says, we are not above using force to extract the infor yourself to do so"

"Ah, but I have two points insers and ticked theuys may talk the talk, but I don&039;t seriously think you&039;re going to torture Mattias and Kristjana, although I don&039;t think I&039;d blame you where the latter is concerned She definitely has more than one bat loose in her belfry But cold-blooded torture?" I considered the vauys aren&039;t that way, not really"

"Brava," Allie said, nodding

Sebastian looked disgruntled for a , "And the second point?"