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"Can you tell ers brushed through his hair

You don’t love asped

Jaenelle swiveled to look at the door adjoining their roo in your roo On my bed"

"It’s your rooet off?"

Why? Because he didn’t want to die tonight

But she sounded so baffled, he raised his head to look at her She was serious She wouldn’t think twice about hauling eight hundred pounds of snarling feline off a bed

Jaenelle stood up "I’ll get hiht I’ll find another bed A couch Hell’s fire, I’ll sleep on the floor"

Those ancient eyes studied hi odd flickered at the back of theht?" she asked quietly

Yes No He didn’t want to cohtened, needy male But he also wouldn’t refuse the only invitation to her bed he ht ever receive "Please"

She pulled the covers back as far as she could with hi on the bed "Get in"

"I--" His face heated

"I gather you wear the sa to bed as every other "

She moved to the other side of the room, her back politely turned

Daemon quickly slipped out of the robe and slipped into the massive bed No wonder she had offered to let hi she would never notice another occupant

Awell to her side of it As she turned off the candle-light, sheti to her breathe, certain that, like him, she wasn’t asleep

Eventually, the wararden below, and the scent of whatever soap or perfume she used lulled him into a deep sleep

The quiet, almost furtive sounds roused hihi next to the altar The golden mane that wasn’t quite hair and wasn’t quite fur The delicately pointed ears The thin stripe of fur that ran down her spine to the fawn tail that flicked over her buttocks The hus that ended in hooves The hands that had sheathed claws

Witch The living myth Dreams made flesh

He was back in the misty place, deep in the abyss The place where

He rose slowly Moving carefully so that he wouldn’t startle her, he walked around the altar until he was standing across from her

On the altar was a crystal chalice laced with hairline cracks As he silently watched, she picked up a sliver of crystal and slipped it into place

So more intently at the chalice, he realized it was his own shattered ments As he reached for one, she slapped his hand

"Do you have any idea howI had to do to find these?" she snarled at him

She turned the chalice, slipped another tiny sliver into place

Theinto the abyss HisJaenelle as Witch for the first tiether

Another sliver slipped into place

A narrow bed with straps to bind hands and feet--the bed from Briarwood A sumptuous bed with silk sheets A seductive trap made of love and lies and truth--a trap to save a child The Sadist whispering that she would take the bait because he, in all his lory,wasthe bait

The last sliver was slipped into place

Re-for the psychic link with Saetan after he had persuaded Jaenelle to ascend to the level of the Red Jewels The two of the body Jaenelle’s panic when thethe defenses Surreal had created in the corridors leading to the Altar Cassandra opening the Gate between the Reallowed, heated as Witch’s dark power covered all the cracks and sealed theaps were filled in, the memories reformed, and, finally, he knewexactly what had happened at Cassandra’s Altar thirteen years ago Finally, he knewexactly what he had done--and not done

He took a deep breath, let it out slowly

She glanced at hience that filled her ancient eyes "The ile You should be fine now"