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When the two ned tasks, Dae room

"Problem?" Jaenelle asked

"The bitch who tried to play with me has been ," shealarm The host’s wife has also been injured, but I don’t have a clear idea of how or how badly I have to go there" He could keep his pride or he could ask for what he needed "Co "You want me to cos?"

"Yes, I do"

Her smile faded

Did she understand what it cost him to ask?

Of course she did She was Witch In some ways, she knew hiainst his cheek, a touch full of coain with you, Prince I’ll stand as your sword and shield when you need it if you’ll do the same for ain Gladly"

She stepped back "Find out as much as you can, then ask Beale to slip that Warlord the sedative I prepared I don’t think either of us wants to ride in a Coach with a hystericalcontrol even before I came downstairs I’ll pack so for you"

She was about to open the door when Daemon said, "Jaenelle, they think it was me" She didn’t turn to look at hi "Rhea sent her man here to ask for help because everyone in that aristo Warlord’s house is e is afraid to say as ot the i about the way Vulchera died thatThey think they’re asking for help from the same man who killed her"

"It wasn’t you," Jaenelle said, finally turning to look at him "May the Darkness have mercy on her, because it wasn’t you"

She looked pale, and that confirmed his own suspicion And the worry that went hand in hand with that suspicion

"I’ll get packed," she said

He went back to his study and reviewed the inforain but didn’t learnthe man in Beale’s care, he returned to his suite and took a quick shower before getting dressed

The sun--that lazy bastard--was just beginning to think about dawdling its way to the eastern horizon when he tucked the lightly sedated Warlord into the back of the Coach with Holt and took a seat in the driver’s compartment

Jaenelle hovered in the doorway between the two coe urn of coffee Beale had put in the Coach, along with a variety of foods to provide them with a cold but substantial breakfast

Daeht the Black Wind and headed for the house of the aristo Warlord and his wife

"An urn of coffee?" Jaenelle said "Riding on the Black, it won’t take that long to reach Rhea’s Province and that Warlord’s house Why would Beale give us that much coffee?"

He knew better He really did But he tucked his tongue firuess he wanted to et a cup with my breakfast"

He felt her sapphire eyes fix on a spot between his shoulder blades, and he really wanted to twitch

Finally she growled, "Drive the damn Coach"

He waited until he was sure she was occupied with fixing a plate of food before he allowed hiet a cup of coffee with his breakfast

Standing in the hallway beside Jaenelle, Daemon looked at the bedroom and the body--and sed hard

It wasn’t the blood There had been tiht of a sodden carpet and smears on the walls and furniture didn’t bother him

And it wasn’t the body, which, from the shoulders down, looked relaxed, as if she’d fallen asleep on the floor

It was the rage--the cold, dark, glittering rage--that made him shiver It filled the room and yet felt elusive, wispy As if it could be brushed aside And there was soe, sonize

"Mother Night," Jaenelle said softly

"And may the Darkness be merciful," Daemon added

"She came upstairs early, said she was tired," Lord Collyn, the aristo ned the house, said There was a bitterness in his voice, in his eyes "She often got tired at house parties and went to bed earlier than the other guests"

"This wasn’t her room?" Jaenelle asked

"No," Collyn replied "My wife and I were the last to retire, and ere about to go upstairs, our butler uests left in a hurry and was very upset Having heard about what had happened at Lady Rhea’s country house"--he shot a nervous look at Daeuest rooned to her She wasn’t, of course, so my wife came to this roomand found her I don’t knohat she could have been thinking It was clear Vulchera was dead, but Rosalene touched the body That’s how she hurt her hands"