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I rolled over, reaching for him, to find the sheets war, and my body tired and at peace Lucas wanted me back How could he want me back? And how could I possibly be so stupid as to want hiht with a cheat and a scoundrel? a wiser part of me asked That was a question I couldn&039;t answer He claiht

Once again, Audric didn&039;t coe-blade practice Maybe bruises froood as bruises froot ready for the day

Downstairs, Jacey and Rupert were standing at the re out into the street, the aroh it wasn&039;t yet ten, they were dressed for work in the back, as was common on Mondays, when the shop was closed Spawn blood and broken glass had been cleaned up Fro hich made the shop darker than usual In the confusion that had followed the battle, I had forgotten the mess in the shop They had done aon the injured

I stopped in the doorway to the stairwell and stared at them They had to have heard ," I said

"You missed Ciana I walked her to school with Cissy," Jacey said without looking e tone Her body was tense, stiff So about the two made me wary "I&039;ll catch her later"

"We&039;ll continue to clean up in here You can work in back today," Rupert said, his back still turned

I folded ht "Why?"

"Did you reset that thing you did last night, to protect the shop? During the battle?" she asked "That shield that glowed?"

The ward Oops No, I was too busy having really good makeup sex with my ex-husband But I didn&039;t say it And I reh the ithout an explosion, and where the energies hen Jacey and Polly walked out "No Why?"

"After you risked your life fighting for the town, and healed the survivors, someone paid us a visit," Rupert said, his shoulders hunched, voice bitter "They left a little warning"

I walked across the shop and peered between the Rupert&039;s new blue cloak froht soans on the walls DIE MAGE WHORE DIE MANLOVERS DIE UNBELIEVERS It wasn&039;t very original, but it got the point across Rupert&039;s cloak dragging in the slick slush, I turned in a slow circle and surveyed the street

The road had been plowed, so the town fathers did only rarely, as snow-el-, and cleaning out the accumulated snow several times a asn&039;t practical The asphalt was scorched in places: large circular spots, where humans had battled behind barricades; sed the road; where the seraph had stood or walked S of charred spawn Windows up and down the street were boarded over Only ours had been decorated with slogans

I bunched the cloak in front ofnunized froo, so None met my eyes Not one

He ht It wasn&039;t fair There was an old saying aes Give humans your best and they&039;ll kick you in the teeth

Fury and hurt welled up, a noxious brew in the back ofcold

"Miz St Croix?"

I turned to find Do&039;rise, Shamus Waldroup&039;s wife, behind me The old woman wore the shapeless black dress of the orthodox, but with a white apron over it The apron was eht red strawberries, a pie with slits in the top through which steam escaped, and a blue-bird on a steray hair was in a bun and she was stooped, a &039;s hu loaf of bread wrapped in paper I caught the smell of yeast, hot and fresh over the scent of rancid smoke

"You and your partners probably haven&039;t had ti," she said loudly "It&039;s just out of the oven" Softer, she said, "Shamus chased the kids away The ones who did that" She indicated the graffiti with a jerk of her head "He&039;ll be speaking to their parents today My husband would consider it a personal favor if you would accept their apologies when they make them And attend the funeral" At my blank look she said, "There&039;ll be a mass funeral for our dead toht The town had lost citizens, elders, e of a teenage girl being eaten in the street I couldn&039;t seeant when I said, "Apologies don&039;t fix the hurt"

"No," she said gently "But they are a step on the road to forgiveness"

After a reement, and Do&039;rise extended the loaf Reluctantly, I accepted it "Thank you for the healing," she said, again speaking so her voice would carry "Some fools haven&039;t realized that you saved the tohen you called the seraph And the ones who died in judgment did so because of their own sins and choices"

Her piece said, the wife of the most powerful elder and most powerful town father turned and walked back into her shop and out of the icyOnly then did I notice that she hadn&039;t been wearing a coat Flaunting the bright colors on her apron

S its source Keeping ht, the extra cells inht place, constructed mostly of brick, stone, and h was tainted with Darkness I followed the wind, and knew they still burned spawn near the Toe River that bisected the city

Below ht my eye Buried in the street, a part of the rocks, tar, and the frozen slush that was freezing into black ice, there was a di a perfect circle The contour incorporated Thorn&039;s Gee parts of Upper Street Seraph stones It was a seraph&039;s sigil, eainstto see what it said, or what it did It was too weak fortoward the center And then I knew Cheriour had twice stood in the saed e before the town, and last night when he fought I had never heard of a seraph leaving a copy of his sigil anywhere, but the Angel of Punishment had left his twice, once in the shop, on the display cabinet, and now in the street I didn&039;t knohat it al ruling It ave me the willies

I shook my head and spotted Ro in front of the shop In the last weeks, she had come by Thorn&039;s Geed to divert her before she could botherto pull the cloak overto have to speak to her

Roled out She looked haggard, hair mussed, no makeup, her clothes wrinkled as if she had slept in the, her cameraman was nowhere to be seen Her back to the street, she was studying the slogans painted on the relass I stopped beside her, our reflections wavering in the glass

"Iinative little cusses, weren&039;t they?" she said I said nothing, and after an uncorandfather as killed at Auschwitz That was a place the Nazis killed Jews in one of the World Wars" Having studied world history in school, I was faenocide that took place "It started like this," she said "With hate"

Romona turned and studied me "Some of the elders think you saved the town," she said conversationally "The rest think you brought down judgment on it Which was it?"

I still didn&039;t reply, and she added, "There are also rumors that you melted the ice cap on the Trine, then vaporized the snow it, but not responding either "If so, that e the town fathers a hefty ht, she turned back to theand sighed, trying to smooth the blond chaos of her hair

"I&039;d like to tell your story," she said e I have of you fighting and healing You and your cha I&039;ll sweep this year&039;s awards without it, but an intervieould complete the story of what happened here I admit it&039;s a self-centered ot"

"Where&039;s your cameraman?" I asked, almost idly

She opened her h possible answers She dropped her hands from her hair and settled on a reply, but when she spoke, the as strained, as if pulled out of her by force "Dead"

I held her gaze in the reflective surface, waiting