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"I don’t knohat it is you think you have to say toto tell me how much fun it is to work for Elizabeth? We both know that’s not true"

"Elizabeth is cold, cruel, andher with his honesty "Yes, she wantsfroance For instance, it never occurred to her that Iwith her for my own reasons, not hers"

Nadia sat back on the corner of her bed This conversation was changing directions every second "Why would I care about your reasons?"

"Because I think they’re the sa a little closer to Nadia, close enough for her to again feel that strange, unearthly heat "Believe it or not, Nadia, we both want the sa We want to see Elizabeth crushed, defeated, destroyed forever I can’t do that Maybe you can"

"But you both serve the One Beneath"

"Precisely I serve Him, not her And if you think the One Beneath doesn’t accept deceit and backstabbing a His servants, then, I have to tell you, you haven’t even started to understand Hi "He loves her, you know Insofar as the One Beneath can love anyone or anything, He loves Elizabeth But He would glory in her devastation just as He would in anybody else’s We’re all just kindling for His fires There’s no one He wouldn’t burn"

Her heart was thuh her fear di she needed e "Okay You want her defeated So do I Joining her doesn’t do that It only helps her win"

"Only if you play by her rules, Nadia What if you played by mine?"

Asa leaned forward then, his hands on the bed, on either side of her His face was very close to hers, the heat overwhelh her, one so delicious that it took her a usted by him

But she wasn’t Not even close

Asa’s sht uilty," he , unmentionable desires: That’s the stuff demons are made of How else could we be so hard to resist?"

Flushed, Nadia pushed herself farther back on the bed to put at least a few more inches between her face and Asa’s She had to think clearly now "Stop playing ga"