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He frowned as I drew back, but he didn’t reopen the bite

With a nod, he stepped away and I scooted around him He could cross the rooain before I could react I knew that But distance still made me feel better And it was a hell of a lot better to not be cornered

"Nohat?" My voice caavethe weather for all my tone revealed

His eyes roved over me, but they were calmer now

"There’s no tilanced down The corset strings were a little damp, and there were dried water-stains from the snow on the vinyl, but it wasn’t like I’d ripped it or anything At least if he orried about the dress he wasn’t planning on killing me

Tatius stepped forward He circled me twice Then he reached out and pulled a clump of my hair free of the ornate up-do Sa neck ofit into place, ?" I asked, as I atteht

He swatted ain "If you’re going to look unkearound a cees Now stay still"

I blinked A couple ofsurprise I’d found out a couple of weeks ago about Sabin and the existence of es, but the idea still hadn’t becoes? I mean, before you were in aze cut down to ed "Don’t look so shocked The es haven’t always been as secretive as they are now"

"But Nathanial…" Nathanial hadn’t known I knew he hadn’t He’d been as shocked as I had, though he’d admittedly handled the revelation better than ," Tatius said, pulling more pins from my hair

I tried not to let my dismay at his words show in my face

Nathanial was over four-hundred years old That was not young--not by any definition I could think of Exactly how old is Tatius?

The question must have been clear in my expression "I am ancient," he said "And I am master of this city I aood to remember that secrets are e had bound a certain amount of silence into o blabbing about what I’d seen recently If I could have forgotten all about es and vampires, I would have--life had been simpler when shifters were the only supernaturals I knew about

That thought touched so deeper

"Did you know about my… that is, shifters?" I asked, almost afraid of the answer

"You ask tooh it

"That will suffice," he said, once I looked like I’d been rolling around in a bed

"I--"

He didn’t give me a chance to protest but wrapped his aredI expect your ht is smile Noe’ve a date with the Collector"

Chapter Thirteen

I fidgeted in my spot on the overstuffed chaise, and Tatius’s hand slid down the curve ofall , which was probably his intention Heat fro, sharing a chaise in such a way a per on relaxing in ot too stiff, Tatius would slide into my mind and force my body to relax--I tuned back into the conversation So far the Collector and Tatius had engaged only in sossip about vampire business around the country