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"Wait," I gasped, ainst the floorboards I winced at the sound ofuselessly over the wood He had to be right; only draining could reduceand desperation

"Hain with those hateful diain"

"I knew you’d see itanother vial froed, just out of reach, and began flipping it over his knuckles again The way I felt reminded ulp under her jeweled collar when he forced her to balance a bone on her nose until he gave her the signal to eat it I gulped, too

"First of all, who are you really?"

I closed ed before, never been in any position that didn’t involve absolute power I had definitely never been helpless at the bare feet of a Pinky, a servant, a paltry huown, the talons piercing the ruffles and digging painfully into my palms

"I am Princess Ahnastasia Feodor My mother is the Blud Tsarina of Freesia, and we reside in the Ice Palace of Muscovy"

At the e ripple of e to what appeared to be pity

"Bad news, princess I follow the papers You were declared dead four years ago They said you were kidnapped and that your ashes were returned to the palace in your engraved vial case"

I would not have guessed it possible that I could feel weaker and dizzier than I already felt, but fear and anger roiled through ined iven me on my sixteenth birthday to carry the vials of blood collected froreed servants I tried to ial face would look like at my funeral ceremony, whether her carefully studied mask would break as my supposed ashes bleay in the wind of a snowstorm Would she cry? Did she even kno?

I sed hard, ritty "This is not possible"

He cocked his head atas he lookedawe, fear, and polite admiration in a Bludman’s eyes I had never had a hu to reach down into my soul and question as found there But thisexpression on his face showed an unwelcome sympathy I flinched under his scrutiny

"You do look like the broadsheets, although the drawings showed you a little younger If you’ve been drained and hidden in that suitcase for years, I guess it could be you If you really are the Princess Ahnastasia, your sister is also , and your brother is sickly" He looked down to fiddle with the vial of blood, and my eyes followed "I don’t kno to tell you this, but your parents are dead They were executed a few ypsy sorceress named Ravenna, and she’s a heartbeat away from complete control of Freesia Tell me, princess, what do you remember?"

"I don’tI can’t" I faltered and closed my eyes They were too dry to produce tears "I need more blood," I whispered "Please"

With another look of pity, he uncorked the vial he held I allowed hiulped the blood as politely as possible, so stricken with grief that it was like sing past a stone After I’d elass clean, Iyet another vial froth by then to slap his hand away and hold the vialinning to twist into unfashionable corkscrews At least rimaced as I set the vial on the floor The blood loss, the heartbreak--it was too much to bear

"That’s all the blood I can find" He pocketed the empty vials and dusted off his hands as if he didn’t like touching them "The delivery isn’t due until this afternoon, I’m afraid No one comes to the Seven Scars before lunch except me and Toest thing An animal A fellow predator but an unfa noise started up, and an odd creature padded out froreat, green eye that regarded ly slash against the creature’s face I had never seen anything like it

"What is that monster?"

"It’s not acreature, I realized that I was sitting up on ain The man focused on the animal, and I scooted unobtrusively toward the broken vial of blood, draggingthem clean with a new desperation

"What, they don’t have cats in Freesia?" he asked "I thought cats were everywhere Old Toer than any cat has a right to live They say cats have nine lives, and he’s on his tenth"