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"I couldn’t leave her there, Duncan"
"I understand"
"What now?"
"She should return to the estate with erate her malnourishment Jabril Karim should be staked for what he’s done Unfortunately, few of the lords are as enlightened as Lord Raphael"
"What does Mirabelle want to do? Did you even ask--"
"Cynthia, ill you learn we are not the etting tired of apologizing "I don’t, you know"
Duncan raised a quizzical brow
"Think you’re monsters," Cyn explained "I don’t trust hurinned
"I a in there now?"
"Changing clothes, I believe She was quite excited when I showed her your purchases It was kind of you"
"Yeah, well, I can be kind too, you know"
"Yes, actually, I do
"Okay, now I’ so nice to
"He ant to see you"
Her good mood vanished She didn’t even have to ask who "he" was "Why?"
Duncan sighed iers between his eyes, as if he had a headacheor maybe two of them "Jabril Karim may indeed be a creep, as you put it, but he is also a powerful vampire lord He surely knew of your connection to Lord Raphael--" He held up an impatient hand to forestall her protest that no connection existed "You took blood from him; you had sex with him, more than once"
Cyn felt a rush of embarrassment heat her face, but couldn’t deny the truth of what he said
"For a powerful va those important to him, particularly human lovers Jabril Karim almost certainly sensed that connection the moment he saw you He may even have called you specifically because he knew you were Raphael’s lover The lords are fiercely competitive The opportunity to take one of Raphael’s" He shook his head "When we couldn’t reach you, we feared the worst"
She didn’t knohat to say A part of her felt a little thrill at the idea that Raphael cared enough to worry about her The more sober part resisted the idea that she was " ame piece between the two vampire lords, valuable only because the other wanted her Or once had, anyway "Well, I’ some of her resentment show "And I’m fine You can tell him that There’s no need--"
"And then there’s the matter of Mirabelle"
She looked at him, her mouth open in mid-sentence "Mirabelle?"
"I have shielded her for now from Jabril Kario mad otherwise, but it will not last This is Lord Raphael’s territory, and Mirabelle is the child of another She is, as you pointed out, over eighteen and free toand inexperienced to actually survive on her own She will need Lord Raphael’s permission to remain, and, more iave her a flat look "Mirabelle must appear before Lord Raphael and petition hiuarantee that he will refuse to see her unless you agree to stand at her side You are, after all, responsible for her being here in the first place"
"If it’s so iht privately "Why isn’t he here now?"
"Lord Raphael is otherwise occupied this evening"
"Occupied how?" she asked quickly, ignoring an unreasonable and unwanted flash of jealousy
Duncan shook his head with a look that was half amusement, half exasperation He drew a breath and frowned "He received a call earlier from the human police"
"The lance "You know of these ot back to town I need to find Elizabeth--Mirabelle’s human sister That’s why Jabril hired hteenth birthday’s in a couple weeks and he planned to turn her the way he did Mirabelle"
"Thus giving him control over the entire Hawthorn fortune"