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"Don’t be sorry I’m not" Then she put her arms around Nicole’s slender waist, rested her head on her shoulder, and said, "Would you stay with me and hold me?"

Nicole’s arm slid back around her shoulder "Shaylin, sweetie, I’ll stay with you forever if you want me to"

CHAPTER TWENTY

Kalona

TEN MINUTES EARLIER

Kalona was standing by the base the boy one to look for hied under his skin

"Erebus…" he gruaze darted down the hallway "Aphrodite, what may I do for you?" He didn’t fist his hand over his heart or bow Yes, this girl was a Prophetess of Nyx, but she was also thehuman he’d ever known And Kalona had known many humans

"I need to talk to Shaylin She’s in the bases are," he said

"Except the two you dropped off in the wilderness to die"

"Is there a point you wish to o wake up Shaylin I’d appreciate it if you’d give us some privacy to talk"

"As you wish, Prophetess Is your Warrior within screa distance in case trouble breaks out below?"

"I don’t need Darius to deal with red fledglings I have this" She patted her purse

"You think to break up a fight with a handbag?" She alht with this" Aphrodite flipped open her leather bag Kalona peered within to see a s to throw your perfuet with this century It’s pepper spray, not perfu under a basement in tunnels don The Brady district and Greenwood and such are undergoing a lovely renovation, but I’ve learned it pays to be protected and prepared"

"Then I will give you your privacy" He did bow to her then Aphrodite was so annoying that he tended to forget how aesture at hiertips before she ducked down into the base her Zoey was just outside with Aurox, and then he reconsidered It really would be a to see ould happen if Aphrodite discovered Zoey in Aurox’s ar through the stables He stood outside, collecting himself, and tried to ascertain fro It did not take hined to its inevitability, Kalona headed for Nyx’s Temple

He didn’t attempt to enter Truthfully, he averted his eyes as he passed the ooden doorway and followed the stone building around to the rear of the te that when his brother arish fashion, he’d do so wherever Kalona stood and the building would block enough of his light to keep fro the entire faculty down upon theht that arish, but Kalona did not give in to the urge to shield his eyes Erebus stepped fro wryly

"Excellent job co when I summoned you, brother," Erebus said

"It bafflesto do with you You have been co to me I have existed for centuries without, as they would say in the ht? Really? I believe your thoughts have often turned to the Otherworld since your Fall"

"You are not Nyx, brother It also baffles me how you mistake interest in the Goddess for interest in yourself"

Erebus smiled "I can end your bafflement with that Nyx and I are inseparable Her interests are mine, just asshow of searching around his brother "Is the Goddess hiding in your sun ball? Oh, no She wouldn’t be I seem to recall the Goddess prefers the cool, soft touch of ht of the sun"

"Nyx sent me here!"

Kalona’s smile was slow and satisfied "Then I welcome you, brother, as the Goddess’s errand boy"

Erebus unfurled his wings They spread around hiold bullion

"I come not as a boy, but as an iht, and I co!"

"Impressive," Kalona said dryly "But if you don’t stop sparkling and shouting, your warning will be witnessed by all ofhis back His voice lost its Otherworldly volume, but his expression lost none of its immortal self-importance