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I opened the double doors under the basin and ducked down The safe was embedded in the wall and visible only because all of Mom’s makeup had been cleared away

After typing in the code, I pressed ertips; then there was a soft click as the safe opened

I took a deep breath, then sat and pulled the door all the way open Inside were all her favorite iteht the last time she was in New Zealand, only a feeeks before her death There was also a stack of micro-drive photo disks and, finally, an envelope

There was nothing written on the front of the envelope, but faint wisps of orange teased e to open it Inside was a folded piece of paper that smelled of Mom I took another, somewhat shaky breath and opened it

I’hter, it said, and I could al the words as I read the the hair near iven little other choice Besides, I saw o and kneas the price I had to pay for having you I never regretted my choice—not then, and most certainly not nohen that death is at my doorstep Don’t ever think I accepted my fate placidly I didn’t But the cosmos could show me no way out that didn’t also involve your death or Riley’s Or worse, both of you In the end, it just had to be

Live long, love well, and I will see you in the next life I love you always Mom

I closed ain I wouldn’t

Butany notice

I swiped at the h, I almost felt better At least now I knehy she’d refused to tellon She’d seen my death—and Riley’s—if we’d intervened And I would have intervened I mean, she was my mother

And as a result, I’d have died

Her death still hurt—would always hurt—but a tiny weight seemed to have lifted from my soul

I glanced down at the letter in htly as her scent spun around ain and tucked it into my pocket That one piece of paper orthelse in her safe

I scooped up the remainder of the jewels, but as I rose, awareness washed over —was in the house

I was half olf, and h I hadn’t actually locked the front door, I doubted any hu Hu to sneak, and with the house almost empty the sound would have echoed But this invader was as silent as a ghost And it wasn’t nonhuman, either, because in the midst of awareness came a wash of heat—not body heat, but rather the heat of a powerful presence

An Aedh

And he was in spirit form rather than physical

My pulse skipped, then raced The last ti like this, I’d been in the presence ofhad ended when two Aedh priests had gate-crashed the party in an effort to capture ht the priests off alone Needless to say, the odds had been on their side, and I’d been taken and tortured for inforht not have led me into the trap, he still bore some responsibility for it It was him they wanted, not me

Hell, everyone wanted him The Directorate of Other Races, the vampire council, and the reapers

And they all were intent on using et to him