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"In the very olden tian, and Marie-Laure sat back in the bed as she fluffed her pillows

"Not that story I want a story about you Tell er man of yours You have the love of my husband and yet you walk away from it for a boy There must be a reason"

"Reasons aplenty"

"I’d love to know thehtened She remembered Scheherazade’s story, the bride of the sultan who told hi her Nora took a deep breath Damon watched her, his knife in hand Andrei stood at the door, gun in hand Marie-Laure watched her,

All she needed noas a story that explained why she loved Wesley She had hundreds of the only one of them would be the hard part, but she’d have to pick one of them if she wanted to live to see her next birthday And with that thought she knew exactly what story to tell

"Once upon a ti "

14

THE ROOK

Grace sat alone in one of Kingsley’s guest bedrooms and stared at her phone She should call Zachary and tell hi kept her fro-distance bill to Australia It would take days for Zachary to get to the States if he kneas going on The flight alone could be an entire day, and it would take hiet to the airport All that ti in the airplane seat with no ability to contact her and find out as happening It sounded like ave her no grief to acknowledge that He turned to her for advice, for laughs, or siht with someone ouldn’t back down She never had to ask who he was on the phone hen she stuot under his skin like she did, got him so passionate, so annoyed

Perhaps another ould have been jealous of their friendship But how could she be jealous when she reaped all the benefits? The rab Grace by the waist or the wrist and drag her off to the bedroom Sometimes they didn’t even make it to the bedroo her over the kitchen table, shoving her skirt to her hips and burying himself inside her And always after he’d come inside her, he’d pull her close, whisper that he loved her She knew he did love her He’d crossed an ocean for her and left Nora behind on the other side

No, she couldn’t do this to hihtnorance was bliss, he’d reminded her She’d tell hi her phone back down into her purse, Grace exhaled with some relief To call Zachary or to not call Zachary had finally been decided One less thing to worry about

Now she only had everything else in the world to worry about Foreiven Søren after reading the note Laila had delivered had been a look she’d only seen once before Twelve years ago, when the doctor had come into the hospital room to tell Grace and Zachary that there was no hope, their baby was gone, and they’d have to face the fact Grace ain--it had been that look

Sympathy from the executioner

The note contained a death sentence She knew it in her soul

She left the rooive her some company She couldn’t stand to be in the presence of her own thoughts anyain, the young e picture , his ear glued to his phone She stayed on the stairs and out of his line of sight She couldn’t hear anything he said but whatever he’d heard must not have pleased him very much as he abruptly ended the call and threw his phone across the room He buried his face in his hands and only looked up when a younger man with black hair pulled back in a low ponytail caer ently pulled them away from his face For a moment they only looked at each other Grace couldn’t blame either of them Griffin was undeniably attractive with his chiseled chin, his dark spiky hair, his tattooed biceps peeking out from the sleeves of his T-shirt But the boy had an ethereal beauty to hie boys could achieve that level of lithe loveliness, that al man by the back of the neck and pulled hiasped aloud They kissed like the world was about to end Perhaps it was Perhaps they should all find someone to kiss like that if only to remember they were still alive Riveted by the display of near-apocalyptic lust at the end of the hall, Grace didn’t even hear the footsteps behind her