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When Marissa opened the door to her bedroom, she felt like an intruder in her own space: A wiped-out, heartbroken, lost stranger

Looking around aiht, God, it was such a pretty white roo canopied bed and its chaise lounge and antique dressers and side tables Everything was so feminine, except for the art on the walls Her collection of Albrecht Diirer woodcuts didn&039;t es s

Except that the ies spoke to her

As she went over to look at one, she had a passing thought that Havers had always disapproved of thes of romantic, dreamy scenes were more appropriate for a fereed on art, had they? But he&039;d bought the woodcuts for her anyway because she&039;d loved the herself into action, she closed her door and went for the shower She had little ti tonight, and Havers always liked to arrive early

As she stepped under the water, she thought how strange life was When she&039;d been with Butch in that quarantine roolyone and it was all back to noric

After blowing her hair dry, she dressed in a teal Yves St Laurent gown from the 1960s, then went to her jewelry cabinet and chose an important suite of diamonds The stones were heavy and cold around her neck, the earrings weighty on her lobes, the bracelet a lock on her wrist As she stared at the flashing geht that females in the aristocracy were really just display mannequins for their family&039;s wealth, weren&039;t they

Especially at Princeps CouncilHavers, but figured it would be good to get it over with He wasn&039;t in his study, so she headed for the kitchen, thinking hea bite to eat before they left Just as she was pushing her way into the butler&039;s pantry she saw Karolyn co a heavy load of collapsed cardboard boxes

"Here, letforward

"No, thank you mistress" The servant flushed and looked away, but that was the way of the doggen They hated accepting aid froently "Youup the library for its new paint job Oh! Which reht now, but we do need to talk about to&039;s dinner ive me, but master indicated the party with the princeps leahdyre was canceled"

"When did he say this?"

"Just now, before he left for the Council"

"He&039;s gone already?" Maybe he assumed she would want to rest "I&039;d better hurry off then¡ªKarolyn, are you all right? You don&039;t look well"

The doggen bowed so deeply the boxes brushed the floor "I am well, indeed, mistress Thank you"

Marissa raced out of the house and dematerialized to the Tudor home of the current council leahdyre As she knocked, she hoped Havers had cooled down She could understand his anger considering what he&039;d walked in on, but he didn&039;t have a thing to worry about It wasn&039;t like Butch was in her life or anything

God, she felt like throwing up every tiht about that

She was let in by a doggen and shown to the library As she walked into the ed her presence This was not unusual What was different was that her brother did not lift his eyes Nor was there even a seat saved for her on his right Nor did he even come around and settle her in her chair

Havers had not cooled down Not in the slightest

Well, noCalh it killed her, because she could have used soht now

She sat at the far end of the table, in the middle of three e, he froze as he saw that all the seats were taken save for those on either side of her After an aard pause, a doggen rushed in with another and the princeps squeezed in elsewhere

The leahdyre, a distinguished pale-haired reat bloodline, shuffled soold pen, and cleared his throat "I hereby call this enda you have all received One of the members of the council has drafted an eloquent appeal to the king, which I believe we should consider with alacrity" He lifted a creaht of the brutal killing of the Princeps Wellesandra, er warrior Tohrhter of the Princeps Relix, and in light of the abduction of the Princeps Bella, ony and blooded daughter of the Princeps Reht of the nuly Society, it is evident that the clear and present danger facing the species has grown more dire of late Therefore, this council member respectfully seeks to resurrect the practice of mandatory sehclusion for all unmated females of the aristocracy such that the bloodlines of the race may be preserved Further, as it is this council&039;s duty to safeguard all members of the species, this council member respectfully seeks to have this sehclusion practice extended to all class levels&039; " The leahdyre looked up "As per Princeps Council practice, we shall now entertain thebells went off in Marissa&039;s head as she looked around the room Of the twenty-one council members present, six were females, but she was the only one to whoh she&039;d been Wrath&039;s shellan, he&039;d never taken her, so she qualified as unmated

As a consensus of approval and support swelled in the library, Marissa stared at her brother Havers would now have complete control of her Well played of hihardian, she couldn&039;t leave the house without his perreed Couldn&039;t go anywhere or do anything because he would own her as his property, for all intents and purposes

And there was no hope of Wrath turning down the recommendation if the Princeps Council voted yes on the s ith the lessers, there was no rational standing for a veto, and although no one could unseat Wrath by law, a lack of confidence in his leadership could lead to civil unrest Which was the last thing the race needed

At least Rehvenge wasn&039;t in the rooht The venerable laws of procedure for the Princeps Council provided that only representatives froinal families could vote, but all of the Council had to be present for a h the bloodlines were at the table, with Rehv not in attendance, there would be no resolution now

While the Council enthusiastically discussed the proposal, Marissa shook her head How could Havers have opened up this can of wor because she and Butch O&039;Neal were nothing Daet him to derail this ridiculous proposal Yes, Wellesandra had been killed and that was beyond tragic, but forcing all feround was a step backward

A retreat into the dark ages when females were totally unseen and all but possessions

With icy clarity, she pictured thatback at the clinic Yes, this was not just repressive, it was dangerous if the wrong hellren was in charge of a household Legally, no one had any recourse against a sehcluded fehardian At his discretion, he could do whatever he wished to her

Van Dean stood in another basement of another house in another part of Caldwell, a whistle between his lips as his eyes tracked the movements of the pale-haired men in front of him The six "students" were in a line, knees bent, fists up They were striking the e left and right, shifting their shoulders accordingly The air was heavy with their sweet smell, but Van didn&039;t notice that shit anymore

He blew the whistle twice As a unit, the six brought both hands up as if grabbing a man&039;s head like a basketball, and then they slaht knees forward repeatedly Van blew the whistle again and they switched legs

He hated to adhand to hand in the ring And he appreciated the break

Plus he was good at the teaching, evidently Although these gangto ith

And these were definitely gang members Dressed the same Colored their hair the same Packed the same weapons What was not so obvious hat they were about These boys had the focus of s covered up with bravado and bullets Hell, if he didn&039;t know better he&039;d have assuovernear They were intense as shit And there were a lot of theht five classes a day, each filled with different guys Hell, this was only his second trip through the park with this particular bunch of men

Except ould the feds use someone like hi beat, stopping theht"

The ear They said nothing Didn&039;t interact with each other Didn&039;t pull any of that uys usually did when they were in a group

As they filed out, Van went to his own bag and got his water bottle Sucking back soht about how he had to head across to He had a fight scheduled in an hour No tiry anyway

He put his windbreaker on, jogged up the basement steps, and did a quick tour of the house Ele one of the other places had been exactly the same Shells of houses that fro weird

He went out the front, made sure he locked the door, and headed to his truck The locations theythey alould be Every ot a call with an address, and he stayed put when he got there, the hting lasting two hours apiece The schedule ran like clockwork

Maybe they were para, son"

Van froze then looked over the hood of his truck Aup against the thing as casual as thethe POS

"What up?" Van said

"You&039;re doing ith the men" Xavier&039;s flat smile matched his flat, pale eyes

"Thanks I&039; now"

"Not yet" Van&039;s skin prickled as the guy eased off the car and crossed the street "So, son, I&039;ve been thinking you ht want to become more closely involved with us"

More closely involved, huh? "I&039;m not interested in crime Sorry"