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Private Demon Lynn Viehl 31090K 2023-08-31

Thierry laid Jema on the bed and jumped froe, where he hung from the frost-covered stone by one hand

"Jehed as he turned on the light "Did you break a bottle of perfume?"

Thierry kept his head down as he heard Bradford walk over to shut the balconyand pull the curtains closed Ice and stone cracked as he dug his fingers in, praying the edge would hold When Bradford’s footsteps moved across the floor, Thierry pulled hiap in the curtains on the other side of the

Dr Bradford was covering Je to her He took her pulse, frowned, and turned away, ht When he returned, he held a needle in his hand, which he used to inject Je down at her face He sat in that ently placed her hand on the bed before turning out the light and departing

Thierry waited a long time before he went back into the room He had to be sure he hadn’t harmed her and performed his own exa, and she moved restlessly when he said her name Had she been enraptured, she would not have had the ability to move at all

He hadn’t killed her She would live another day

Leaving her tore at him, but Thierry moved back out onto the balcony, where he watched the snow fall around hi to Shaw House She had been awake and reading when he had arrived, and so he had stayed in the shadoaiting for her to fall asleep

The long hours, the cold, and lack of blood had instead sent Thierry into a troubled sleep

How had she slipped into his nightmare? Humans did not have talent; she could not enter the dream realm by her oill Yet somehow she had--or he had lured her in He had been a fool not to realize it was Jema’s ht the chance to tell her everything

So he had told her He’d told her of his dead wife, his ruined faith, the Kyn curse under which he lived--his na that she was not to know about him had coiven her the numbers to all the bank accounts he kept around the world

So body had left the balcony and gone into her roo lust ca her It was only blind luck that Bradford had come in when he had

Thierry left the balcony the usual way and went back to the Nelsons’ hoone too far with Jeo back He could not trust his for her had nearly resulted in her death

He had fallen in love with her So much so that it had nearly put his would have tekenis--soelica, as she had risen to walk as Kyn, as he had--but the curse only killed humans now

How had she done this? Jeest fashion Not in the er, when he had displayed every secret, revolting part of himself in the blood dreams, and she had not turned away She had ehed at hiive her some comfort in return, when he had told her that he wouldn’t let her die alone, only then had she rejected him

If that was not love, then Thierry did not want to knohat it was

Their hands, entwined, bleeding together He looked down at his fingers, turning his hand over, expecting to see the mark of her blood on it He didn’t understand what itat all--but it had felt like sanctification As if so to their love

What sort of God gave a dying woman to a cursed demon? Was it punish to her hty himself Whatever Thierry had earned for his mortal sins, Jema Shaas an innocent She had not earned him

There was a certain irony to it Thierry had alanted love Within the heart of the warrior was a desperate need for peace, and gentleness, and kindness A life lived to its fullest, with a lady at his side A lady like Jema He had wasted his love on a woman who had used it to destroy him, to drive hiht him out of madness, ould have kept his love safe

Thierry had no answers, no thought of how to cope with this new torment He knew only that he could not stay away from her He could protect Je and no one harht would have to last hireat; he ht not be able to leave the blood dreams a second tiain

"The trail ends here" Falco rose from his crouch and looked down both sides of the street "He is not Kyn, not fros"

Cyprien regarded the row houses, tenehborhood Unlike Falco, he had been unable to pick up any scent, Kyn or hu Michael did hen there were too many other odors to distract hiutters A cat wandered out of a garbage can on its side, the head of a rat in its mouth It reminded him of a district in London where Tre est building read the haven Cyprien remembered what Tremayne had said about John Keller, but it seemed far too convenient

"What do you know about that place?" He pointed to the Haven’s sign

"Young ones who have no fao there," Jaus’s seneschal told him "The man who runs it is troublesome The Kyn avoid it"

"Alexandra’s brother works there now," he told Falco "Can we enter the building without being seen?"