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Narcise drew in the fresh, cool air and felt the tears gather in her eyes Free I&039;ht, and Paris lay beyond her, around herwaiting for her Paris, and the worldall of it, waiting for her

Yes, she&039;d been out of the apart herebut this was different

This tio back This time she wasn&039;t accompanied by the insidious darkness of her brother, whose presence clung so heavily even when he was absent

This ti transported in a dark vehicle with guards

"Are you co withto stand here and wait for theed to say, terrified at the thought, as he grabbed her aran to walk off briskly

He had her clutched to his side, a bare-chested, battereda slender effeht look like And, apparently, even such an appearance wasn&039;t relean notice fro?" she asked, still drinking in the air, the activity of people walking and talking and laughing There o slyly, with red lips and very low bodicesthere were lanky youths watching fro arm in arm as if they had nowhere to beand no one to escape froroup of the e Narcise to wonder if they knew theirwith a vampir

"I don&039;t bloody damn know, but wherever it is, we don&039;t have ti went as I planned"

There were s flowers on the breeze, and fragrances from some of the well-dressed (and not so well-dressed) woes and cheese and wine and ale, cakes and bread and crepes all offered for the late-night patrons A rolling lust for a cake, iced with cream, surprised her She hadn&039;t had a sweet-or at least, hadn&039;t enjoyed one like that-since she was a girl in Ro stench of sewer and refuse, the daae of the Seine, coal and wood swith sweat and burned flesh, and it teased herfor it had been some while since she&039;d fed

A blonde wo near one of the colu the Tuilieries She seeh the narroay beneath the covered pro into or next to her

She atching the in its intensity Instead, Narcise felt a wave of peace slip over her as their eyes ed her past and the Mark on Narcise&039;s back twinged painfully It surprised her, for Luce hardly ever expressed his annoyance with her Perhaps because she never had much chance to make a choice that would annoy hi in her head and Narcise smiled to herself as she happened to h of course there was no possible way the wo But, yes, this was only the beginning

It occurred to her, then, as Woodmore snapped his hand at a hackney cab-then decided not to clientleman pushed his way ahead of theo herself She had no money She knew no one-an uncomfortable ht of someone she did know-and didn&039;t knohom to trust

But then a name did appear in her mind Dimitri, the earl, in London Cezar hated the man ever since he ended a business association with him when Dimitri learned that Cezar was a child-bleeder Andthere&039;d been that night in Vienna, when Cezar had offered Narcise to Dih she&039;d been dull with pain frohtthe cold, dark man who looked at her with a modicum of sympathy, but not even a flicker of lust

She would go to him Any enemy of Cezar was a friend of hers

But in her fantasies, when she&039;d planned to ined a scenario in which she&039;d slipped fro on her shoulder when the place was quiet and everyone was sleeping or otherwise distracted Or that she&039;d be standing over Cezar&039;s headless body saying a fond farewell as his blood coursed onto the floor

Just as Woodmore said: Not as planned

But, nevertheless, it had worked

"Here," he said suddenly, towing her into a shadowy alcove

The next thing she knew, they were at the backside door of a sin rapid French with its proprietor He flashed that white sesture and then produced a small pouch that clinked-which she swore he hadn&039;t had moments earlier

The pouch&039;s contents see factor for the proprietor, and the door opened wider She felt the rin on her as Woody stairs where the s to the walls She wasn&039;t certain whether the proprietor recognized that she was a woman and not a man, but in either case, it didn&039;t matter

After all, this was Paris

And the recently liberated Narcise had no qual the valow of a lamp

"Shut the door," Woodmore ordered, and when she turned back, she saw that he&039;d sat on the bed

For the first time, she noticed howHis torso and are burns "You&039;re hurt, what-"

"You just noticed this?" His voice was harsh He seeinally softer tones, "I need to get cleaned up They&039;re going to bring a bath"

Even his sharp words didn&039;t offend Narcise She was free Nothing would upset or annoy her now Yet, she felt that she owed hiet hiht"

"And how precisely would fighting have helped us if one of us was dead? Or did you simply plan to kill h and unsteady

"I didn&039;t expect hiht I would allow you to win, and then you would take me towell, it doesn&039;t matter now, does it? We are here, and I&039;et the money? Surely you didn&039;t have it in your breeches all this tie would have been noticeable," he said, flashing a surprise smile "At least, in certain places I lifted the coins from the sot who stole our hack He&039;ll never miss them, and I can&039;t draw on my resources until toht up and by then, a knock sounded on the door She opened it to reveal aof ale and a platter of cheese and bread The girl brought it in, put it on a table, then turned to the cold fireplace

"I don&039;t believe they have your particular vintage," Wood- to the food

Narcise nodded, and realized again that it had been more than a few days since she&039;d fed, and with the hint of his bloodscent-just barely oozing-still lingering, her gulance went briefly toward thethe girl so she could feed, but when she felt Woodmore&039;s eyes on her, she discarded that idea

If he was like any other ht of toement, and then she&039;d have another proble she wanted or needed was anotherto control her-or to have her bloodlust take over Woodendary one in her world He wouldn&039;t be easily denied

She turned her attention away from him and back to the fact that she would have to find a way to feed She&039;d never actually had to arrange it for herself; Cezar had always, as part of her captivity, provided a servant-a

But this was a problerate, the ave a short bow, then left the chas of ale, and was selecting a piece of cheese when he looked up at Narcise He didn&039;t speak, although he see to sayand then he returned his attention to the tray She realized she was trying not to breathe, for the chamber-especially the bed-reeked of coitus and perspiration, and over it all was Chas Woodmore&039;s scent His blood

Narcise suddenly felt aard and out of place And, all at once, exhausted Her knees wobbled and as her head spun, she reached blindly for the chair and eased herself into it

But she was free A smile erupted, happiness welled inside her so ainand suddenly, tears flooded her eyes The tears rolled down her cheeks, catching her by surprise-she hadn&039;t even realized she still kne to cry-but all at once, she was sobbing uncontrollably

A handkerchief was thrust into her face, and she took it blindly, gratefully-and at the sah so muchwhy, nohen she was happy, did she have to show such weakness?

The cloth sh with blood and sweat and pain and the pleasant smell of his skin and hair, too She dried her eyes and lifted her face to find hi her with a detached expression "Thank you"

"I have three sisters," he replied with a shrug "Sobbing females don&039;t unsettle me in the least And I suspect you have elica did when her favorite yelloas stained with ink"

Narcise gave hiain "I cannot remember the last tio

Another knock came at the door, and Woodmore answered it this time She noticed the way his feet scuffled a bit when he went to open it, as if he could hardly lift theht in, followed by five huge pails of stea so in order to keep his own knees frohtness in his face and around his eyes

But now that she&039;d beco his bare torso, half illulow of the laed belly was as dark as that of his hands and face He had dark hair trailing down his sto waistline of his breeches, and up to a full expanse of it over his chest His arms were rounded with muscle, scarred and marked, but powerful nevertheless

Her eyes started to heat when she thought about the texture of his skin and the essence of his lifeblood, and she had to look away It was a reaction she couldn&039;t completely control, but she could hide it, for it didn&039;t

After the water caht the food, and this tiuent These she left near the bath, and Narcise realized it was for Woodmore&039;s injuries

When the door was closed once more, and they were alone, Woodmore turned to her He seeht he actually swayed on his feet "I don&039;t expect you have delicate sensibilities, but if you do, you&039;ll either have to leave or close your eyes"

"I don&039;t have anywhere else to go," she said quietly

He gave her an inscrutable look and turned away And then all of a sudden, he rab for the chair, and he began to sink

She heard hiroan a low curse just before he hit the floor with a dull thud

Narcise rushed over to kneel next to hiround "Woodmore?" she said, and went to shake him by the shouldersbut stopped when she realized that would ly burns

She saw the red oozing fro Cezar&039;s handiith the ed to do what he&039;d done-fight her, carry her, run and slay and even pick a pocket-with these sorts of injuries

At the same time, she felt a wave of remorse that she hadn&039;t noticed how badly he was hurt during their fencing match Of course, she had been a bit distractedbut she should have at least gauged his weakness as her rival if nothing else

"Woodently, still hesitant to touch him But when he still didn&039;thot He ers brushed over his shoulders

He couldn&039;t re and loose-liot hi hih injuries of her own, inflicted by Cezar or any nunize all of the different s, cuts and bruises She&039;d also had soh she wasn&039;t certain whether washing and cleaning injuries on mortals would even help, since they could die from injury and she, of course, wouldn&039;t

But she did the best she could, using the ater and the dubiously clean cloths that had been brought in with the unguent to wash away blood, sweat and grime Narcise even i him fully naked, so that she could examine him for other wounds A particularly nasty one, which had been hidden by the trousers near his right hip, had her sucking in her breath in alarht, she could see that whatever had gone through his skin, and out the other side, had taken the fabric of his breeches with it like a needle and thread The injury was rough and dark, and little frayed threads and pieces of cloth decorated the opening

And it s scent to it An ugly, thick, roiling sort of stench that was so unpleasant it didn&039;t arouse her bloodlust, even as undernourished as she was, and succeeded inscents as well She cleaned it carefully, probing to get the re a good job when he flinched and , for it ly as they were, evil and dark, were painful but should heal This one on his hipperhaps not

By the ti yellow beaerous to Narcise, but at the same time, she hadn&039;t seen the sun for more than a decade