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"And then she died" He shook his head and laughed softly "She was utterly self-indulgent, confident in her charrant you But in the end, her beauty was nothing, or perhaps everything It was a jealous ho destroyed her, stabbing her through the heart as she lay in her daytime rest next to her lover, as also the woman’s husband It was a stupid mistake to leave herself vulnerable like that, and so completely predictable that she would end in such a shameful fashion"

He remained silent for the space of a breath, and when he spoke next there was an underlying sadness to his words "Most of her children died along with her They were inextricably tied to her will, and in her final moments, she sucked them dry in a vain effort to save herself She must have known it was futile,them into death with her, but she wouldn’t have cared No price would be too great if there was even the sli life could be saved

"I and a very few others survived, those of us who had the power to resist her final call So to the life of debauchery which was all she’d ever taught them The rest wandered off in search of a new master, while I took my newfound freedom and carved out a territory of th to challenge ainst me, I took my few people and caaze directly, e his next words "In over five hundred years as Vaed no master, no lord, no lady Not sinceor dead, clai companions, the fidelity between Sire and child"

"But Alexandra--" Cyn protested

"Alexandra," he said almost wearily, "is a petty woman as once a child I loved I sometimes think she would have done better if I’d never found her in that Paris dungeon, or if I’d left her to "

He shook his head "No, my Cyn, there has been no one in all these hundreds of years who mastered me Until I met you From the first, I wanted you, and your resistance to my advances only made me want youbeneath ain and yet again My hunger for you was as fresh as if we hadn’t joined only azed down at your face, at your eyes filled with desire forI owned to keep you safe atat last ust "Rather than face you in et about you, which I thought was surely possible After all, how could one hus in such a short period of ti his head at his own foolishness

"You told one, I have lived for those moments stolen from your sleep I wanted you to remember me so that no other man could touch you the way I had The very possibility drove ht was to destroy Jabril Karim before his eyes could so much as look upon you, lest he even think to take you for his own"

A cloud covered the leaaze "I have been mastered at last, sweet Cyn, helpless in the face of that s I love you"

Cyn stared at hi so hard, so fast, it crushed the breath fros A part of her wanted to reht, the deep shadows beneath the trees, the ht where it could, the scent of the Eucalyptus, sharp and acrid--the moment he bared his soul to her for the first time She wanted to throw herself into his arain that he loved her And that he thought it a failing to love her this way? She understood perfectly She’d fought against love most of her life--love for her father, her absent mother, the succession of nannies in and out of her world Love let you down, made you vulnerable No other emotion had the power to wipe away reason, to destroy carefully built walls and leave you bleeding in the wreckage

But because she understood, because she re hi in the quiet dark beneath her tree

Raphael s his head suddenly in the direction of Alexandra’s"Your little bird is ready to fly," he co up his jacket and offering Cyn a hand up

She laid her hand in his, letting hith in everyhis hand around her lower back to hold her "The choice is yours, sweet Cyn," he murmured in her ear He lifted her face and kissed her then, a soft, slow kiss she couldn’t help responding to "Come to o and stepped away

"Raphael--" she began, but he interrupted

"She doesn’t belong here," he said, staring toward Alexandra’s house "The sister, Elizabeth" He looked back at Cyn "She doesn’t belong a my people She should be out in the world"

"I know" Cyn nodded "I’ll find so for her, so with Alexandra either," he said in a thoughtful voice "I understand Duncan’s reasoning in bringing her here In some ways, it ell done But I have other plans for Mirabelle"

"What do you mean plans? What kind of plans?" Cyn de very protective of both sisters

Raphael grinned at her, as if he’d expected the reaction "Nothing without her consent, e actually She’s worth "