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He gave rinned

"There is a vast difference between not caring about who sees your outer layer and whether you’re with Lucian"

"So, Lucian aside, you wouldn’t care if I found iving little away But tiny flickers of annoyance danced both along Valdis’s sides and through the outer reaches of n that he was not as cal it up?"

"Because it’s so to see your very human reactions" I rose on et dressed"

"And I would like to point out that the workings of your mind are sometimes incomprehensible"

"Does that mean I sometimes make sense?" I brushed past him, dumped the wet towel down the laundry chute, then headed for ly war all the way down to my toes It was certainly a more welcome sensation than the tiny tickles of thousands of spidery feet

"Occasionally Very occasionally"

I grinned again "Just think how boring your life would be without me"

"I do" He hesitated "Possibly lance "So you’re actually going to nain, and my amusement died Hesitation was not what I’d expected Not now Not after all that had happened between us And yet, as Ilianna had so rightly pointed out, the future was not soht now But, at the same time, how could I not when it came to him and me? Because I didn’t want hi that was never in doubt

I ignored the ache that accoht and quickly waved a hand "Sorry Durabbed the nearest clothing item It turned out to be a short jean skirt that was more suited to summer than the chill of a day like today, but what the hell I teaedto impress Azriel certainly couldn’t care one way or another what I earing

Once I’d pulled on tall leather boots, brushed ave hio"

"Risa--"

I cut him off with a sharp motion "Don’t worry about it, Azriel"

"I can hardly not worry about it when you are" He caught my hand and drew me toward his that a huht have done Instead, he said, "The future is in a vast state of disarray right now No one, not even those of us whose duty it is to know the future of everyone who lives on this plane, can guess at where this questdeath is becoently brushed a stray strand of damp hair from ot angry when I said e difference between taking one’s own life and a death that has been foretold I would not like to see you end up as one of the lost ones"

"Trust me, it’s not like I’d want that, either" Yet I couldn’t shake the notion that that possibility was still on the table I sighed "As I said, let’s forget it We need to go talk to the people at Hallowed Ground before bitch-face rings and blasts me"

"Her time will come," he said "Have no fear of that"

"Then I hope I’m still around to see it"

"I suspect that even if you are not instrumental in the event, you will at least be there," he said "And no, I will not say ri us across to the Hallowed Ground in no time at all

He dropped ain before I could question hih there was no entertainer onstage, the club had lost none of its patrons But I guess that wasn’t surprising given it was barely one thirty and most of them were vampires I walked across to the bar and showed the e "I need to talk to someone about the fill-in entertainer you hired today"

The bartender--a balding, pot-bellied vaed "I’m afraid I can’t help you, love Not my line of work, that, and I don’t talk to the entertainers much"

"Not even briefly?"

"No"

A non-chatty bartender was not what I needed right now "What about the owner?"

"He’s not here"

"Then who hired the replaceer" Aer, now, did you?"

"I think it could have been taken as a given, seeing I asked to talk to whoever was in charge," I said, barely holding back the annoyance inI’ve learned overin non-hu as a given or anyone at face value"

"Which isn’t bad advice in general" I hesitated, re If she wanted answers, then I had to question the people ere here, whether she liked it or not "Can I speak to Harry, then?"

"Sure He’s in the office down past the end of the bar"

"Thanks"