Page 40 (1/2)

The vein in her neck started to pound She put her hand there and stroked up and down The slash over light brown eyes sank lower, a predator’s stare, and she watched his fangs descend onto his lower lips Oh, how she wanted this vaht nohat she wanted to give

When he started to rise froasp rose out of her throat With every ounce of strength she possessed, she tore her gaze frorabbed her aro" And before he could argue with her, she lifted her free arm and folded Unfortunately, her mind was so confused, she ended up not in her ho in the middle of the fountain outside her town house complex

She felt the water on her heated skin and started to laugh To say she needed a cold shoas to say the very least

As she stepped out of the fountain, however, she just couldn’t figure out the why of what had just happened In what dimension did it make the smallest sense that she could ever desire a vampire, warrior or not, whom she despised for the deserter he was?

The future speaks in a drea unveils all truths

--Collected Proverbs, Beatrice of Fourth

Chapter 13

Crace sat on a stone bench in the very center of the Co At least he wasn’t sweating this tih what he felt was far worse--like he’d been stabbed in the chest

Froer, his basic personal drive not just to get ahead, but to rule With the single exception of his lovely wife, his beloved Julianna, he had only one great love--his a his rather n with hi to him He understood the Com need to have power and more power and more power

Two dimensions? Oh, come on Greaves had more vision than that

The opportunity to work beside Commander Greaves had meant, literally, the world to Crace Yes, Geneva was part of it, a huge part, but his sensibilities went deeper He thought of the Commander as a true comrade, a brother-in-arms in spirit, in motivation, and in a complete lack of scruples

He tapped his left foot on the intricate pattern of the patio made up of terra-cotta pavers He had arrived early just to think His ould join him when she had put the last touches to her coiffure, the subtlety to her s

The orchard, near the base of Estrella Mountain, was a thing of beauty The trees were laid out as though radiating fro as it traveled in what seemed like miles in every direction The entire orchard was covered with a variety of shields, which allowed for a gradation of microclimates So, others in a state of wintry rest Beneath the trees, a natural collection of grasses and weeds grew The Coanic methods

More than any other aspect of the Commander’s life, this orchard and what lay below typified his essential character Beneath the rows of peach trees, buried in the earth, was the Colobal operation Below the Co facilities for his army Below the bunkers was a vast cavern dedicated exclusively to research and development The Commander had a passion for armaments He was creative eaponry of all kinds, alorking on i methods

An hour earlier, despite the failure in Carefree, Greaves had requested that Crace and his wife join hi-white oht Julianna In the center of a table covered in beautiful Irish linen sat an elegant arrange froround cover Yes, Julianna would be enthralled by the attention to detail

There was so hed

He had showered and shaved He wore a formal white tuxedo, black trousers, the finest black shoes He had tried to scrub the stench of his failure off his tanned ars, and face but couldn’t He bled remorse fro his wife’s arrival She had told hi a practical, sensible man, would not, would not in any way blaiant private breakfast meant he held Crace no ill will

Usually, Crace’s wife knew best She had great abilities She could sense things before they happened He therefore shouldn’t feel as though he would soon be ground to dust by his deity’s displeasure

Yet how could it be any different? The Commander would hold him responsible for what had happened in Carefree

Crace rarely despaired An optin He didn’t like the way his body felt, heavy in every s He even had to force himself to breathe

Was it his fault the ascendiate had so much power? She had disabled his men over and over from a series of hand-blasts Hand-blasts He could not even conceive how she’d done it He shuddered at the memory Beyond the hand-blasts, however, who could have foreseen that so noble a warrior as Kerrick would have called an illegal eency lift? It was unheard of

And just how had the pair known to take off in the ascendiate’s fucking Huain