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So her jaw "I’, beseeching Pulling her out of the darkness, out of the horror, and into a lighta growing lightbrighter and brighter A led to rise

"That’s the way, beautiful girl Come on, sweetheart You can do it"

Her eyelids pried apart, and in the next instant she was peering into Kane’s handsoot tangled up, neither of them able to look away, and relief softened his expression Yet, despite the relief, lines of tension bracketed his eyes andwrinkled His hair was spiked, as if he’d stuck his finger into a light socket

"You’re back"

"Where’d I go?" Her voice was a e the soreness out of her throat, but her arm proved too heavy to lift "Where a whatever eht you toshe could currently nized it iht cots and seven other feold-and-crystal chandelier hung overhead The walls were splashed with gold-frahout the centuries

Josephina sprawled across the huge, ultra-soft four-poster bed, wearing a T-shirt far too big for her, as well as her gloves, with a velvet blanket covering the lower half of her body

"Do you reht? The three warriors you touched?"

Rememberyes She’d touched one, then the other, and the other, and a surge of strength had overcoth But thenoh, then, the darkness had enclosed her, dragging her down, down, down, into a cavern of despair and helplessness

"You drew the evil out of them and into yourself I carried you to the palace," Kane continued He re her anchor, the only thing holding her here "You’ve been in bed for four days"

Four days!

The realization sickened her Her father would be angry with her--had probably even tried to force her out of bed at some point She had duties, and she would be punished for failing the was now that much closer

"Don’t worry," he said "I dealt with your father"

His gorgeous hazels were still glued to her, see to drink her in and ht up in the intensity of him, captivated by the majesty of himconfused by the number of injuries on him

"What happened to you?" she asked "My father? Brother?"

He rubbed the angry cuts on his forehead "Disaster"

She’d always hated Synda’s demon, and she’d always hated the Lords’ demons They wreaked havoc on their keepers and ruinedeverything But what she’d felt then could not compare to what she felt now She wanted Disaster dead "Well, thank you for taking care of me" Besides her mother, he was the first to ever do so

He sht you’d curse at s, yes But that? Never "Why?"

"I haven’t forgotten your desire to die, Tink," he said, his voice a low,scrape

"Not that way," she whispered Never that way The evil she’d housed would have dragged her straight into hell, conde her to a worse fate than the one she now lived

Kane toyed with the ends of her hair, and the contact, slight though it was, awakened the very pangs she’d battled at the dresser--for him Need--for his touch Desire--for so much more

"Have you ever spoken to the Moirai?" he asked

Even the name tainted the atmosphere around her "No"

"Have you heard of them?"

"Of course They claim to weave the fates"

"Claihtstand "You think it’s a lie?"

"Absolutely" Until that moment, Josephina hadn’t realized how thirsty she was Everything else was forgotten

He placed a straw at her lips, and she sucked and sucked and sucked, the cool liquid soothing her throat

Kane watched her mouthher throat

When the cup was empty, she leaned back, licked her lips

He watched that, too

"More?" he asked, heat darkening his eyes

"Yes, please" But she wasn’t sure what she wanted--more water, or more Kane