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They stared at each other for a long moment The tranquility of their afternoon had been shattered, and he wondered whether Skye would choose to separate herself from him now rather than continue a relationship that ultimately had to end

Then she said, "I don’t think you’ve thought this through"

"Skye, I’ve had centuries to think about what it would et involved with a va to me" She tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear; her pale blue eyes rave and his tribe want to enslavehere Hasn’t it occurred to you that e my blood forever?"

He didn’t understand Or did he? But no She couldn’t ?"

"It’s possible the only way to change e htly, but she continued on, resolute "To turn me into a vampire, like you"

"Absolutely not" Balthazar could see the logic of the idea, but it was distant, far behind all the many emotions that told him to refuse her "You don’t knohat it means to be a vampire, Skye You don’t knohat it means to die"

"Do you think I want to die? I don’t But you’re not the only one who can look into the future and see hard choices" Breathing out sharply, Skye looked away from him for a aze that took his breath away "Well, we agree on one thing We need to seize the rily than ever before, and within seconds he had pulled her down onto the bed, willing the world to go away for the blur of her lips against his They didn’t argue about their different ideas about the future, at least not explicitly Instead they focused on how best to keep Skye alive and in Darby Glen, for her parents’ sake and for her own

This involved so Balthazar had already emailed Lucas and Bianca to talk about who could help protect her, or how best to dissuade the va for her Apparently Bianca’s parents were spreading a counter-rurave had planted in Lorenzo’s mind, and the stories about her were all another of his well-known, elaborate tricks This was now being whispered through all the gathering places that served siht Academy--small, secluded schools, retreats, and centers where the undead caood first step, but it could only help so ht The vampires ent to these places were, by definition, thehu undue harm What they had to worry about were the wild ones The ones who never ca hu prey wherever they could find it

And even the civilized vaht miss the old days of the wars, the days when they had a prince … but that was so to worry about later Skye’s dilemma was all he could concentrate on now

Lucas had co vampire incursion in Darby Glen Ason a band of vampire hunters for any reason, he had to ad a pack of vaer pack of hunters on the to attempt to reach out soon, which

Balthazar wasn’t sure how long he could remain out in the open once Black Cross arrived They never allied with vampires, ever; to them, all vampires were merely animals But he’d face that when the time came Whatever it took to remain with the woman he loved, he would do

They never parted once until Monday That , at dawn, he ran with Skye toward his car, the better to get her hoer seat, she said, "I don’t kno I’ homeroom"

"You’d better I don’t want to be arrested for indecency"

"After this weekend, you could be arrested many times over" Skye beae of you," he blurted

She gave hial, consent-wise You knew that, right? The ‘arrested’ thing was just a joke"

Balthazar, who had grown up in an era o birth to their second or third child, had other things on his al limit What mattered went deeper than that "Skye, I don’t want you to look back and feel like you … didn’t have any choice Like you were only with me because of the intense situation you’re in"

Skye leaned over and kissed hi and slow, mouth open When their lips parted, she whispered, "I want to be with you, too I know that, absolutely"

"Okay," he said, a s across his face

As Balthazar put the car in reverse, he thought he saw a flicker of movement at the corner of his eye and turned sharply to look at it--but it was nothing Maybe the reflection of a bird on one of the Findleys’ s, or the swing of a curtain Redgrave was nowhere near, and it felt for ain the world