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Balthazar got out of the car His feet sank in loose, powdery snow almost up to his knees The darkness around them was nearly total, and by now alh to be out on the road He and Charity were alone Her white dress and pale hair made her appear to be part of the snowstorrave," he said "Thought you had your own tribe"

"I do They’re with ain he re ore it had been when he’d finished reater horror than the one when he’d seen Charity dead by his hand--lying next to his first love, the wo his sister Tried and failed

Charity was thinking of it, too Her high, youthful voice shook, as if from the cold "Why do you never choose me? Why am I never the one you want to save?"

"Why do you always choose to go back to Redgrave? How can you be on his side after what he did to both of us?"

"Redgrave only killed you," she spat back "You’re the one who ument before--hundreds of times, over hundreds of years This was Balthazar’s cue to retort that he’d been given no choice, that she kneas, that she would have died one way or the other before that night was through Would she rather be poor Jane?

But this time was different Because this time, he’d been back there He’d relived it, as vividly and immediately as he had experienced those events the first time This ti hirave’s clutches

She was asking why he hadn’t done her theher to be the one who died

Jane had a chance, he’d told himself Charity didn’t Charity’s spirit and soul had already been broken

But that hy he should have killed her Had Jane been a varave, because the change transformed people in every possible sense, but maybe she would’ve been like Balthazar or the other vaht Sane Reasonable At any rate, her choices would’ve been her own

By turning Charity into a vampire, Balthazar had ensured that she would remain trapped in the labyrinthine chambers of her own insanity for all time

Balthazar said, "I’m sorry"

"You always say--"

He sank to his knees in the snow and looked up at her The gesture silenced her beyond any words he’d ever spoken