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He caught her chin with his fingers and placed a soft kiss on her lips "Welco of all they’d been through and all the ways he had made love to her, and should life be even a little fair, all the beautiful centuries they would have together God willing

But even then, as the warriors congratulated her, she watched the about, prowling, always on guard, fists bunching as though preparing any h her suddenly

Would Kerrick and she truly have a life together or were they kidding themselves?

A servant arrived in the doorway and announced that dinner was served Endelle’s stilettos clicked across thehall

Kerrick offered his arether they fell in behind Her Suprelanced behind her Havily had taken Luken’s arm The rest of the warriors also followed, except two As she crossed the threshold she had a final gli near the open wall, staring deep into the landscape beyond, hunting, searching Santiago lifted his gaze to the skies

She knehat they were searching for--death va her skin in a tight ripple of fear No matter the assurances, this was her life now that she had ascended

Marcus took up last place in line to go into dinner, waiting until Santiago completed his visual sweep of the exterior His hand itched for his sword He didn’t like the setup even though Thorne insisted the palace had a state-of-the-art security system He hated the open walls

What the hell was Endelle thinking? An attack could coh the various connected rotundas, all of which, by the ere large enough for death va roos were tall ht to cli room was vast and would no doubt accoe round tables for a sit-down dinner of a hundred So yeah, the space could easily shelter a sht, with only one table set for the celebration dinner

In the round Fuck He’d be able to see Kerrick easily and the sonofabitch could see him

He shouldn’t even be here and resented the hell out of the fact that Endelle had insisted What was the point? Alison had just completed her ascension ceremony She was safe now--or at least as safe as she would ever be--and he could go back to his life on Mortal Earth, his real life He ought to just leave but taking off would only piss Her Supre He wasn’t diso No questions or complaints allowed

He avoided eye contact with Kerrick Ever since they’d gone head-to-head, a silent truce had characterized their subsequent interactions Of course he had one major distraction on hand, which kept him occupied most of the ti in a simple black dress and somewhat boxy black shoes All that black coupled with her peachy-red hair, which hung in glossy waves to the center of her back, one in just after Alison and Kerrick Luken had offered his arht had fallen and sootten heavier and thicker as the hours wore on He had a hard-on he just couldn’t seeet rid of

As he strolled behind Medichi, he had to ad breh Four thousand years, one wife divorced, tives buried, and at the dawn of all-hell-is-about-to-break-loose the wo like heaven and s like sin Never had he been so drawn to a woman, so enthralled by her presence and by her scent And he knew, he knew, she was equally attracted to him She was also pissed off about it, since the disdain in her expression when she glanced his as full of fire and brimstone

He was a deserter and she despised hiive an arht of him and the hell he would ever take a breh, a real breh

Godda Luken Her hand on his ars, draw his sword, then slice the bastard all to hell

Shit, he needed to get back to his life, to his nuet all about the wo wood one ht as well have been sixteen years old again

As he took a seat tay frolanced at Endelle She sat in a throne-like chair to emphasize her rank He narrowed his eyes Had she orchestrated this? All the centuries he’d been battling death vamps on her behalf, since the year 1997 BC, only one other warrior had ever found a true breh Even Kerrick had adory Helena hadn’t been powerful enough, which had been one half of the problem, one half of the reason she had died She hadn’t been able to sense the future, to get herself or her children out of harhts were a black hole and he wouldn’t go there Otherwise he’d find some excuse to provoke Kerrick and once more beat the shit out of him, or at least try to

He sucked in a breath He just had to wait this evening out, et peret the fuck out He settled his shoulders back and as soon as the wait staff started pouring wine, he started drinking

After two full glasses, he looked up to find Alison’s gaze on his Compassion rested in those blue eyes of hers Jesus H Christ So the bastard had told her what happened to Helena Fuck She inclined her head then looked away, thank God

He caught a waiter’s eye, lifted his glass, and watched the white wine climb up the bowl

He still couldn’t believe the Third Earth powers she’d de Leto Jesus, talk about power She had all of Second’s abilities, like Endelle on her ascension, plus a few of Third’s That was one boatload of ability Hell, maybe she’d stay alive for the bastard