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Holes in the walls, bloody pals skewed crooked where they hadn’t been pulled off and thrown to the ground “If Ae to beat Jiana?”

Jason, his presence so silent that she was als, spoke for the first ti or mild sedative would have left hih that he tried to fight it”

“Jiana would have known,” she murth Then all she’d have had to do was taunt hi pattern clearly now He’d crashed into the wall there, skewed the ornamental s, then kicked his way free and done so that sprayed blood over the wall

“A blow to Jiana’sat the spray

“We’ll know for certain soon enough,” he said, his wings a whisper of darkness as he walked into a room off the main hall “Raphael will take the memory from her mind”

Honor shivered at the idea of such a violation “How do you stand it?” she asked, aware it was an inti he could do the saave her an unreadable look over his shoulder, his eyes as dark as his wings “The kind of trust that allows you to take D to woe his temper”

Startled by the response, and by the fact that he’d picked up that piece of inforh it appeared he’d just returned to the city, she looked withlines of a tattoo that should’ve s And yetShadows, she thought, clung to Jason

“Whatever it is you are to Dmitri, Honor,” he said in that voice as deep and quiet as the heart of night, “it’s not like Carmen or the others” Lush black lashes caain

Fascinated by this angel who she knew instinctively rarely spoke to those he didn’t know, she touched her hand to a shattered figurine and waited, knowing he had more to say

“He won’t brush you off like an annoyance or let you walk away” Spreading his wings to block the rest of the rooaze “It’s too late Do you understand that?”

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With her gaze Honor traced the lines of the incredible tattoo that covered the left side of his face, the ink ebony against warm brown skin Hair pulled off his face into a neat queue, he was both sexy and re to warn me or protect him?”

“It doesn’t have to be one or the other”

“I don’t need to be warned off Del lowered his guard with anyone “I see him as he is As for the otherit’s not necessary” The truth was, Ds, to reflect nothing though he looked straight at her “Many would’ve curled up and died after what you experienced”

An intimate observation, but then, he’d answered her question “I al why her ansould ut it did to Jason “But turns out, spite is a daood motivator—I didn’t want the bastards to win”

Jason’s expression didn’t move off her, and she had the powerful sense he wanted to pursue the topic, but his next words were prags are as expected in this ho she’d righted on the way in It was the nude of Jiana in bed, her slu at the artist as a woman looks at a lover “This hat I saw,” she whispered, tracing the A in the botto inside her at the i, she glanced up “You’re right It’s not conclusive Let’s keep looking”

The black-winged angel was a silent presence by her side as she explored hallways covered by a rich, cream-colored carpet, thick and lush where it wasn’t crushed by broken and overturned furniture or ot into the house, the less aggressive the carnage, until at last they were at the very end of the second floor, where nothing had been disturbed

It was there they discovered evidence Honor would’ve been happier never to find The fine sheets on the large bed were tue oil on the bedside table On the floor lay not only a robe of bronze satin and lace that Honor recognized i leather shoes “A shoes” His bloody footprints had s brushed her back as he spread thes should siht, had never had a chance Then again, so ainst the to torture others Still, she couldn’t help but ihtmare as a scared, defenseless child “Do you have any idea of when this ree that was noticed” A pause “We did a quiet investigation, found nothing aht of Jiana’s tears, how very convincing she’d been in her despair “She was clever” Turning away from the silent accusation of the tuht, would it have led to a severe punishest motive for Jiana’s attest the most dissolute immortals,” Jason added, a dark heat to his tone she realized was rage, “sos are deeply taboo To subject a child to such depravity, it’s beyond our coentleness “I have heard such blood is a delicacy”

Hot breath on her face “No! Please!” she screahter Followed by a thick, wet sound and then her baby’s screa the air