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Giordan stilled at her words, at the revolting offer

Narcise stood no ht as a rail, her ivory face paler than usual and without its norave her an even starker appearance, verging on gaunt Her fencing attire, those close-fitting tunic and breeches, had damp spots from perspiration and one red blossom on the shoulder froaze was cold and dark, without a hint of Draculean glow

"Is that how you noritimately curious and at the saht

"Not at first," she said conversationally, though there was the faintest treht them all at first It took me some time to realize that it was less painful, and often over sooner, if I lay there like a dead fish"

His gut tightened as his attention was drawn autoes flashing into his mind were unpleasant and dark; yet he couldn&039;t deny that the vision of her lying on the bed, naked and spread out, was co Desire flooded him, compounded by the fact that the very roo and vetiver-and of coitus and blood

His veins began to swell as his fangs threatened to show themselves He forced hiether prudent thing, for his gaze then lit upon a variety of other accessories in The Cha froave it an absurd appearance of civility A rack of whips A small metal box Carved ivory phalluses, of varied sizes Even small knives: too dainty to slice one&039;s head froh to cut decorative nicks into one&039;s flesh

Giordan&039;s belly churned, knowing that each of those items had been used lance Narcise, Narcisehow can you be less than mad after this?

"So which shall it be?" she pressed, her voice a little led to be "Surely it cannot be that difficult a decision"

"Where is the peephole?" he asked For now, he h to weaken his already stretched control

She looked at him blankly for a moment, then her eyes skittered to the wall across from the manacles and chains Cezar hadn&039;t atteh which he er than the arrow slits in aheights, in the plastered wall Not obvious enough to distract one from one&039;s pleasure, but certainly there

Without prea to the wall and spoke into the dark slots "I don&039;t wish to be spied on, Moldavi" He could scent the stew of h the holes, and knew that at least several of them from the previous room were there, prepared for even more entertainment And, indeed, as he looked into the dark spots, Giordan saw the faint glow of several pairs of orange and red eyes, burning, blinking and then turning away

He suspected that his host ht be annoyed, perhaps even furious, at his statement, but Giordan was confident that the h to buy into the spice ship he was sending to China, and that he would acquiesce gracefully

His need for fresh opiu incentive

But of course, too, Cezar Moldavi needed always to be in control, and a conflict that he couldn&039;t win-such as this with Giordan-would make him appear to be out of control

So, once the one, he turned back to Narcise She atching him warily, and as far as he could tell, she hadn&039;t moved

"What is it to be, Cale?" she asked a third ties of her full lips hite with tension

"Neither I&039; to touch you," he said

A strained silence settled over the room

"Are you mad?" she whispered Her hand had ainst her throat A bit of color rushed into her face

"Just a bit" Giordan pulled his attention away and said, "Is there anything to drink in this torture chae off his senses

Narcise didn&039;t reply; perhaps she didn&039;t trust herself to speak, either But she walked over to a cabinet he&039;d hardly noticed and pulled out a bottle of, praise the Fates, brandy or whiskey As soon as she reh the air, telling Giordan that while Cezar didn&039;t provide his best brandy, it was still a far sight better than what land served The rush of the alass was the only sound for ahim faintly, and then turned to look at him She left one of the whiskeys on the slass

"Your nah they had conversed briefly before, Giordan hadn&039;t truly appreciated the low duskiness of her voice But now, it curled around him like a smoky serpent and his belly twitched in response

"No, it isn&039;t, unless it is some shortened version of a nalish I don&039;t know I don&039;t know ins I&039;m fairly certainto follow the brief diversion, for of course he&039;d been telling the truth when he told her he didn&039;t ht perhaps relieve the pulsing gue in his breeches

He walked over to pick up his own drink, wondering if leaving it there was a play for control on her part, or if she didn&039;t trust hih to hand it over "They came into the city and then I don&039;t knohat happened We were poor I have vaguevery solid"

"But you are no longer poor Was that" She hesitated, looking at him with desperate eyes this time "Did He promise you riches?"

Giordan knew precisely what she meant "Lucifer visitedas wealthy as the king" The old niggle of unpleasantness wors would never change, and that I would enjoy great wealth for eternity And I But I&039;d lived on the streets, slept in the alleys and beneath the sewer bridges Once you&039;ve been hungry every day for five years, and haven&039;t had shoes or a clean shirt for a twelve-ain At leastI was"

He took a large gulp and pursed his lips, ignoring the doubts and darkness that weighted hireed to follow this conversational path?

"Did Cezar make you?" he asked

"No," she replied "But in a ed for Lucifer to visit ed "If he hadn&039;t, he would only have had a plaything for perhaps two decades instead of eleven"

Her tones were nonchalant; so had she been her brother&039;s prisoner? And what could he do to take her away? "Luce ca his thoughts away froe Yet

"Is that not always how celestial beings deliver their es?" she said wryly "Or invitations?"

"I do not think of Lucifer as a celestial being," Giordan replied with his own dry sht shoulder, where the Devil&039;s Mark er with hih the rootlike weals that covered the back of his shoulder

"No, of course he is no longer But he once was friends with Uriel and Michael and Gabriel"

He noticed that her face seemed less taut, and as she chose a chair on which to sit-still a distance fro so to relax Because of course, their conversation had turned froels, fallen and otherwise, and the world they had in common

"And then Luce fell," she added, her face serious Worn "Just as we have"