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This discussion was going to be harder than I had expected He had been in love with Batildis And if vao on, he likely still was Wrassler said sooire said so back Wrassler nodded me to the chair by the bed and stepped out of the way, allowing me to see the rest of the room, which was filled with tables and chairs and knickknacks and art fro a blue silk dressing goas on the huge wrought-iron bed The frale, an ornate, exotic structure that ainst a stack of pillows, blue silk linens over him and beneath him Curled up beside him, a happy smile on her face and a smear of blood on her throat, was A with Adelaide Mooney Amy was the kind of person ould disappear into a crowd in a heartbeat, nondescript, brown everything, and on the surface, ht scions back from the devoveo in record time It was brilliant to have the injured vamps drink from her, and fro out in any way required

Grégoire was va but as Wrassler s clicked up into the roof of his mouth and his eyes bled back into the famous blue irises His skin was pink from the blood he had taken and he licked his lips "Thank you, Amy," he said "When I aifts You are a treasure to drink from, your blood like the finest wines of my home country"

Aoire didn’t ; nor were the cold eyes he turned to me His scent was flowery and soft, like the seashore and spring blossoms, but underneath it was a trace of frustration, like creosote in the sun Grégoire looked like a fifteen-year-old huht and debauched his way all through Europe for centuries He was not a fanghead to take lightly or to treat as anything less than a dangerous predator

"Ureeting, Jane

He let a silence build between us, as he scrutinizedand more dead than usual "I can move my head," he said at last, and I flinched at the words He slid across the pillow, ainst the blue silk "I agling in de "My left hand is also led "And other bodily functions have returned in full But I am still paralyzed, yes"

"Sorry about that," I said "I didn’t intend to hurt you so bad"

"You were perhaps planning a love tap?"

"Ummm"

"I know you are not huth They are secrets worth hiding, and will be of use when you face the Europeans Andthe last three words

"Yeah" I took a breath "About your fam--"

"Sadly, you will face them alone," he interrupted, "if I am not well recovered And even with your speed and trickery, you will not survive, not against Peregrinus and his Devil" I wasn’t adept at reading Grégoire, but I thought I detected a bit of satisfaction in his tone at the thought of"It would have been better had you shared your secrets with Leo and with ifts better utilized You have kept a great weapon froh to share your blood that I ave ratification "Sorrow is a wasted e You did not answer my question Why did you hide this when you knoe face such a danger?"

I shrugged and sighed "Would you believe me if I said I just discovered I could move so fast?" His expression said he wouldn’t "It’s true I was raised alone from the time I was five years old I didn’t have teachers I don’t kno to use all the abilities ofAnd while I knew I could "--I lifted a shoulder--"faster" Which sounded woefully inadequate Because, even if I knew all that another skinwalker could teachwith the abilities that ularity? You have never met another of your kind?"

I looked at the doorway Wrassler had left us alone but the door was open I stepped to the entry and closed the door Grégoire’s eyes were narrohen I turned back, and he held a long, slender knife in his left fingers I figured knives were never far from the vaonna hurt you," I said, sounding cross "But I don’t want this getting back to Leo"

Grégoire’s pale blond eyebroent up "You think I would keep so from my master?"

"Only if it was necessary And this is necessary" I sat on one of the soire’s size, not h and I felt ridiculous, but the positionit in such a way that he couldn’t throw it in a single move But he didn’t put it away either I s the shtly acrid, and I eyed the blade Poison? That was ducky

"Leo knows that I that posed as Leo’s son and heir for decades was a skinwalker, like one off the deep end" At the confusion on Grégoire’s face, I said, "He’d gone crazy When skinwalkers get old they lose mental stability and do what Immanuel did They eat humans Ied, not knowing how to finish this--"in ever"

"Leo knows this?"

"He knows some of it He sent me the bones I Like how fast I a" Or that I can now bend time Yeah Not that either