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She hesitated,his reaction, but all he did was rub her back in soothing circles Relaxing a little, she continued "One day, a man approached me He ell dressed, spoke with a European accent, and he said he could take care ofand desperate, and I ith him Turned out he was a demon A slaver I never even knehat species he was--he was ter’taceo, so he never looked anything but huers over Con’s ribs, counting theotift, and of ain, she waited for a reaction, but none cah money to pay one of them to do this" She rubbed her hand over the tattoo on the back of her neck "It’s enchanted The deic to ease er over the pattern, and pleasant tingles followed its path "I’m sorry it didn’t work" She frowned "It did work You should have seenexhale, and Con’s touch grew more tender "What happened next?"

"I ith him for thirty years, and then he sold me to someone else after I tried to escape one too ot off on lockingme sex"

This time, Con’s curse was loud and nasty "Why?" Her stomach churned at the memories, at the helplessness and humiliation "Punish on the floor, begging for relief" She laughed bitterly "Thing was, I didn’t care if relief came in the forht her was that she would never again be at anyone’s mercy when it came to sex Now that she was free, she would never be owned, especially not by so she needed to survive No one would ever have that ain

"Where is he?" Frost could have forle hiled up to hi she’d never done with anyone, but noasn’t the ti hi I did when I took over the assassin den" She’d paid Lycus well for that job

Slowly, the tension drained out of Con’sbreath "How did you end up there?" "The ahole sold me to Detharu--the assassin master I took over for after Idess killed hie of the assassin den?"

Sin squirht it and forced herself to stillness "Idess wasn’t cut out for the job, so I volunteered"

"But did you want it?"

She wiggled her fingers, feeling the weight of the ring Felt heavier than usual "It’s a great gig for someone like me"

She really hadn’t answered the question, but Con didn’t call her on it "So how did you ain?" "He joined up with Deth twenty years later And it was otten herself into soh to seek Lore out Bitterness had built up over the years, and in a lot of ways, she’d hoped he’d turn her down, just to give her another reason to hate hi to reed to help find a way out of her contract with Deth Unfortunately, there hadn’t been a way, and he’d signed on as an assassin in order to save her life

"I’d lostto sell allery--"

"A what?" Con snarled, and she swore she heard the slide of his fangs shooting out of his gualleries"

"You could say that," he muttered "I’ve done a lot of stupid shit in s were available to anyone illing to give up their blood--and bodies--to feeders like vamps, would be pretty stupid, in Sin’s opinion She’d been to a fehile hunting targets, and while most had standards and strict rules, like how you couldn’t kill the junkies, they were still little round cesspools And in the really bad ones, where the druggies weren’t exactly volunteers, the victims rarely survived more than a couple of days at the hands--and claws--of the vampires and deet sold Lore signed up with Deth to save me"

"He uilty for leaving me the way he had And you knohat’s so shitty about the whole thing?" She said that as if all of it hadn’t been one big, stinky pile of ghastbat guano "At first, I was just happy that since he was tied to Deth, he couldn’t leave ain" Shame welled up like acid in her throat, and she curled in on herself--as much as Con would let her, anyway "They always leave, Con Always"