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"Have I not spilled enough at this tourney?" he quipped

"I need it for the database It’ll only take a minute, and it’ll help me calm down" She smiled "You aren’t afraid of needles, are you?"

"You must make haste," he told her as he followed her inside "Scarlet says werush hour He beco to beat the gridlock That’s what creates it, you know" She took out a syringe and gestured toward an eot to Bannockburn, how did you know that Jayr was Marian’s daughter? Will toldlike heron a chain around her neck," he said, the a from his expression "I left it with the child when I took her to the south of England"

"It’s a plain gold ring," Alex pointed out

"Engraved with the words ’Joy always, your Maryan,’" he replied evenly "I checked"

"Maryan with a y?"

"’Twas the old way she wrote it" Robin shrugged "Are we finished now?"

"Scarlet ait Let me take one more look at that neck" Alex pushed up his chin and released the first three buttons of his shirt The ligature wounds left by the copper cable had closed but had not vanished; a thin, raw-looking scar encircled his throat

"Pretty, isn’t it?" he asked the light fixture

"I’ve seen better," she told hi tissues "Korvel, Richard’s seneschal, has aaround the collar He told rimaced "I believe I will be satisfied with my scars as they are"

"Good plan" She tilted his head to one side to check beneath his ears "Yours will eventually harden and turn green as the copper deposits in your skin oxidize, but they shouldn’t be too noticeable Why would Marian have a ring engraved to herself?"

"Perhaps she ift to soht out of her pocket and played with it "So where do you and Michael travel next? Chicago, or New Orleans?"

"I think we have to go to Europe for sohed and patted his chest, then frowned as she felt a depression in the pectoral et you here, too?"

"No" He reached as if to stop her fro h "’Tis nothing, Alexandra An old scratch"

"A scratch, huh?" She pulled his shirt aside and inspected the faint depression below his left clavicle "More like achunk of rew fangs, or after?"

"After"

Alex’s fingers told her that the unnaed out a plu tissue, yet there was no evidence of any sort of penetrating wound

Locksley scowled down at her fingers "Must you poke like that?"

"Considering that the only weapon that could have caused this wound would have had to been ht over your heart, yeah, I do" Alex stepped back and tilted her head as she studied his chest "You know, if I were going to stab you in the chest, I wouldn’t do it sideways"

The side of his mouth curled "Fortunately for me, few assassins have your skill with a blade" He stood and went to work on the buttons