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You said no?

Of course Just because I sonore consequences doesn’t mean I’m not aware of them I munched on the pizza and added, And I think the consequence ofdead

Death in this fory forht now Especially given ita Mijai I frowned If I did happen to die, what happens to our child? Would he die, or would he also becoh obviously not a serving one Not until he reachedaze met mine, blue eyes hard Better the life of a Mijai than no life, Risa

It would have been better to have left things as they were meant to be – both of us dead But then, if the Raziq had the power to callthe saree hat Azriel had done, but I could certainly understand his reasons Now that he’d actually explained theuess the next thing we have to do is go see if we can get into that warehouse near Stane’s"

"And if we can’t?"

"Then unless dear old Dad coet into his quarters in the temples, I’m fresh out of ideas"

He studied me for a moment, then said, "What of your uncle?"

I frowned "What of hirew "Yes, but that’s not going to help us get into my father’s quarters"

"Maybe, maybe not," Azriel replied "But it is very rare for a half Aedh to undergo priest training, and that alone suggests he’sI’d never really thought about before I , but it had never struck me to ask why a half-breed had even been allowed near the temples Unless, of course, the priests were in short supply even back then

"Powerful or not, fro into his and Lucian’s quarters without some sort of access code" I finished the slice of pizza and licked a few cheese reers "Besides, we don’t need Uncle Quinn to get into the temples You can do that, can’t you?"

"I can, yes, but it is unlikely I would be able to access the inner sanctums, and that is no doubt where your father’s quarters are Only the initiates are quartered in the outer rings, and we Mijai rarely have need to go any farther"

So once again my father hadn’t been completely honest What a surprise "I really don’t want to involve Uncle Quinn, if only because it’ll drag Riley into the equation"

"Your uncle isinformation from your aunt," Azriel commented "He is Aedh as much as vampire, remember"

"Yeah, but she’s one hell of a telepath" And she could spot soed to keep the fact I orking for Hunter to , I’ll never know

Of course, it did help that I’d recently missed our weekly cake and Coke catch-up sessions If I hadn’t, I’d probably be locked up soathered the troops and took off after Hunter

"I still think you should talk to hiestions when it comes to Hunter and Stanford"

"Maybe" I drained the can of Coke, so check out that warehouse first If we have no luck there, I’ll consider talking to Uncle Quinn"

Azriel nodded, then rose and held out a hand I placed rabbed ain melted into the warmth of his arms A heartbeat later ere outside the old West Street warehouse that contained the first of the cuneiform stones we’d found

It was one of those old two-story, redbrick places inner-city renovators seemed to love The wind rattled the rusted iron roof and whistled through the sularly spaced s, ood shape Like s in the area, its walls were littered with graffiti and tags, and rubbish lay in drifting piles along its length

But while it looked abandoned, there was an odd, almost watchful stillness about the place It was a stillness that seely quiet Even the roar of the traffic traveling along nearby Smith Street see off theor anyone in or near the warehouse?"

He shook his head and pressed his fingers againstbut rats"

"Just like last time," I murmured And I had to hope it was a case of second time lucky when it ca into a pit and I certainly didn’t want to confront more damn hellhounds