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After I feel I’ve kept Trajan waiting long enough, I take in a deep breath and leave the spacious bathroo coainst the wall nearby in all of her gentleness and servitude And her secrets, which I will not ignore forever All of the servants have already been told to leave I know Ara soundly upstairs; I can hear her soft breathing and only wish that I could be there with her, instead of down here staring into the face of

And just like the last ti that I saw and experienced I hold back nothing I learn during our conversation what I already suspected: Viktor had been trying to get Aramei out of the area because the war between his arulf all of Serbia Viktor’s rebellion had just startedmore to his side so that he could eventually overthrow Trajan and claim his throne Because Viktor knew he could never defeat Trajan on his own, nor could he defeat him with such a small army Viktor’s actions were limitless and within a couple short ue olves under his command that the humans who had not yet been infected were terrified to leave their ho true had started to spread as fast as Viktor’s growing nue heard of the ruh the countryside

But I also learned so I never expected

Nataša, after Viktor went rogue was ht Hand in place of Viktor But Nataša had always been crafty and vindictive She had been spying on Viktor and all of the ti from the shadows Viktor never detected her presence because his infatuation with Aramei blinded his senses, but every encounter that Viktor had with Araeful eyes

To become involved with a huainst their laws; it was against their nature and Nataša was theof all She had always hated humans and because Viktor had become infatuated with a human, Nataša would be the one to set inabout Aramei’s death

I leave the cabin with ht I’d have And I start to see now more than ever how the pieces of so ether

"Why do you serve hi in the driver’s seat of a black SUV Isaac had to go to Augusta and deal with another challenge made by a ho apparently wants control of the Maine territory I, knowing the nature and the ies, understand that Isaac had to leave and deal with it

I was still under with Aramei when Isaac left

Now, Raul has been appointedme back to Hallowell It could’ve been worse; I’ drive with Trajan as my company I like Raul and Isaac trusts him, and so do I I’m pretty sure Isaac had words with Raul before he left about watching overover at me His enormous, muscled arms look aard out ahead of what appears to be a tiny steering wheel; his giant hands grip the wheel on each side I’m surprised he can fit in the seat

"He is a bastard," I say

If this were any guard other than Raul, I likely would not have said that out loud

"I know," Raul says and it stuns me

I turn my head to look at hioddahs a deep, ruh "Soine hi out the windshield now

It’s late in the afternoon and the sun will be setting soon

"Nah," Raul says, "he doesn’t, but that’s best being in his position There are no such things as friends in his case"

"Well, serves hiht"

"Other than their fear of him," Raul says, "he associates with no one by his own choice If I were the Sovereign, I would befriend no one just the same Too risky"

"Oh, so you’d shunover at hi to lessen the bleakness of the conversation

I’ve had enough of bleak

A giant grin etches across Raul’s big face and he wriggles his bushy brows at me "Oh, no ma’am! You’d be my only friend" Then a sneaky look appears and he adds, "I’d let you be anything to ive hi with his innocent teasing, either I loveRaul

"Yeah, yeah," I say, "you couldn’t afford hs

"Baby, after one night with ht along with him, never uncomfortable with his sexual comments The truth is that I don’t think I ever could be He’s totally harmless

The sun has set by the time Raul drops me off outside at the Mayfair house

"You be careful on the drive back, Raul," I say standing outside at the driver’s side