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If Ravenna had found an ally in Alex, if she had found a way to calh to see how she had won her way into the palace A son who couldn’t eous match for the royal house--a son who, ht attack newspaper reporters--was a liability and a tragedy My mother had first coddled him, then sent hi every day that a solution would present itself
If what Casper had told me and what I had read in the newspapers was correct, Ravenna had found a way to subdue Alex And that was oneher What if she was the only one who knew the secret to a normal life for my brother?
A hand landed on ?"
My fists were clenched around o of the laces and stood, flexing h the about Freesia About my brother There are just so many variables"
He chucked me under the chin, and I wrenched lancer once told me that I would have a happily ever after I think thatto succeed"
"I told you--I don’t believe in o and stood by the door, not yet ready to leave the coht to believe that fortune-telling was the lowest for you what you want, what you need to hear"
"I ht so once, if the fortune-teller hadn’t brokenshe said has coood part be as true as the bad?"
He stepped close enough that had he been anyone else, it would have raised e ripple shimmy down my body It reminded reeted hi as if she were so full of joy she could shake it off like water I cockedWas this lust? Or love? Or just fellow feeling tangled up with a hunger for his body? Before I could consider further, his lips brushed over mine, warm and swift as a breeze in sus fully by the ti on my shoulders? There was no way to know Maybe she would kill one or both of us, and I would never have to consider it further With a sudden urgency, I leaned forward to kiss hio take over this cold-ass country," he said with a diuises and disappeared a a little like love
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When we arrived at the grooh her ratulations As for Keen, she had escaped after her groo and hadn’t been seen since Casper orried, especially since he hadn’t had a chance to warn her of our gri for her would be futile I orried, too, and I realized that we needed a diversion to keep us froar Snow Ball All of my plans were about to co to do but fret, which Verusha wouldn’t tolerate I borrowed a clean dress frohter-in-law and returned to the parlor to find an entirely new version of Casper
As a Pinky, Casper had been a esture froht have ended in hi, with his hair brushed and his cravat hanging loose, he was a fitting companion I wanted hiroomery arm-in-arm as if we hadn’t a care
I took him first to the park where the ballerinas practiced, and we caught the toward the sun like bright flowers Casper strolled over to the quartet playing in full parade dress on the bandstand, inspecting the instruments with a polite smile I could see the calculations in his eyes as he realized that Blud musicians could play faster than Pinkies, their ers flexed against his breeches, and I grinned to myself I couldn’t wait to see hi the true breadth of his skills
Next alked the topiary gardens, re on the inized several of thethe names of the artists in his world who had created thenude wasn’t crushing a tiger’s throat where he ca there
At the Natural History Museum, he marveled at the stuffed exhibits of anioats, and the unicorn especially drew him close, and I found that I savored his amazement I had not spent much time around children, and surely this was how a parent felt, watching a young creature reel at the possibilities of the orld When he stood under the dragon’s yellowed skeleton, gawking, I outright laughed at hie!" He held his arspan
"I’ve seen bigger," I said with a s to his eyes as he stood before a strange little painting that I’d never really given any thought The poor womatic
"I alanted to see it, in ot around to it I had a tour planned for Paris for the next summer, and the Mona Lisa was at the top of my list"
He leaned close, and the docent in the corner cleared her throat and wagged a finger I grabbed his arated us too closely As different as I looked, this was nized was all too real a possibility, and I had been careless to let him call attention to us