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Ty raked his fingers through his hair and looked to the heavens, a sky scattered with stars She knew Of course she did The woman was ancient and had been born to rule, to manipulate people, to understand their motivations and use theiven him much artifice Usually he didn’t care, but he was surprised at how little he enjoyed having Arsin&ou up on his interest They had never been lovers, but she was a jealous creature by nature She must be the only woman, even to her lowly pet hunter

Easily done when no self-respecting vaht, I guess," he allowed, trying for noncoht in No one could look at Lily Quinn and believe for an instant he’d thought her plain

"Hmm," was all Arsin&ou to help you So you don’t get distracted"

Ty frowned, knowing full well that her teasing tone hid truth "If you’re going to send anyone, send Jaden," he said, referring to his closest blood brother, a Cait Sith only slightly younger than himself He wasn’t the most personable of vampires, either, but he was unusually trustworthy

Arsin&ouain stirred the hair at the back of his neck She see a while, haven’t you?"

"Is so his teeth He was in no ht, and Arsin&oueable htly--too lightly "But I doubt you will He’s left us"

Jaden, you fool No matter how the Ptolemy valued their services, he and Jaden were servants And servants did not have the option of quitting That was the sa for Ty to worry about Later All thathelp froht have tolerated

As though she’d heard his thoughts, the queen continued "I was thinking of sending along Nero He’ll deal with her quickly enough, one way or the other"

Ty’s eyes narrowed in the darkness, and he came to a complete stop on the deserted sidewalk A nuht That’s how it is Arsin&ou with the Ptolees Nero, however, wassuspected the cold, calculating Ptolehblood wanted not just Arsinöe, but also the power she had at her disposal And Nero hadfor the days when the Cait Sith were treated like slaves of the lowest order For Arsin&ou hiht her eye, which meant he had her ear as well And whatever doubts she had already been having about Ty’s presence in her circle would have been bolstered, agreed with, and amplified For hblood? You made it very clear you wanted a hunter for the job, and Nero isn’t one to get his hands dirty," Ty ground out, barely ue and lash out the way he wanted to The queen ht tolerate soo… and he was suddenly unsure of his limits

"I did send a hunter," Arsinöe snapped "Andto show for it There are tasks better suited to noble blood, Tynan I have begun to think this is one of thes he wanted to shout at her, things that would get a cat like hihblood--any highblood But he had not made this world, he reminded himself All he could do was survive in it Which is what he would continue to do, no s it did to as left of his pride

"How long will you giveto the formality he hadn’t used with her in many years That finally seemed to touch her, for the little it orth

"A week, Tynan," Arsinöe said softly Then arive this to Nero But I know you won’t fail me You never have"

He accepted what passed for an endearain toward the square, Ty was left with roiling anger and no outlet for it He’d wanted to knohat had happened in his absence, but in this case, knoas no co court of bored vampire nobility ere as predictable as they were violent, one of the things you could always count on was the constant jockeying for position aers-on who served as Arsinöe’s courtiers, advisers, and, occasionally, lovers

Looked like Nero had finally ine how he e the clever Ptolelared ahead as he zeroed in on a prime site for dinner, a seedy little bar called Jasper’s where the occasional patron staggered out into the cold night and mediocre 80s power rock drifted fro of the door His hunter’s hts were consumed with Nero He ell acquainted with the ambitious Ptolemy’s "methods" Just as he had firsthand experience with Nero’s feelings on lowbloods and what, exactly, they had been put on Earth to do