Page 86 (1/2)

A whisper of sound

Looking up, she saw Misha peering over the edge of the roof space With her eyes, she told him to be quiet, to be still But he was his father’s son Screae, he ju little teeth into the vampire’s neck The vampire went to rip off her son and throw hiht to escape, to protect hi, twisting form in his arms “She wants the older child alive!” He squeezed her sweet boy tight as she begged hihed, continuing to crush Misha until his tiny, fierce body went limp

Then, finished with her, they broke her spine so she couldn’t escape as the house filled with s on to the end But there was no peace for her soul, her ht of Caterina’s ravaged neck, and D words when Isis’s rede? For what I must do?”

Such a proud ht a battle,” she’d whispered, touching her hand to his cheek “You do this to protect us There is nothing to forgive”

So he had gone, her D to be used And he had promised to come back, nofor him

His heart would break

“Honor!” Dh the night, trying to wake her as she cried great, hiccuping tears

Then she turned, burying her face into his chest, and he knew she was already awake Her tears, they were those of a wo Utter devastation in every hot, wet drop as she cried and cried and cried, her body shaking so hard, he worried she would shatter

She wouldn’t hear his words, wouldn’t be gentled, so he siht hi but cry—until his chest ith her desolation and he wanted to tear so apart But he didn’t tell her to stop Aht, had been the catalyst for this, and if she needed it to co, so be it

So he held this hunter whose reen eyes said she saw hirede used to do, who ine an impossible truth, held her so close that she was a part of his very soul

37

Honor sat with her legs dangling over the side of the railingless balcony outside De if she fell, but she figured one of the angels beloould catch her Of course, she wasn’t about to take the chance—there was no way in hell she planned to die anyti to coht in her throat at her conscious acceptance of an impossible ideaexcept it wasn’t It was as real as the Manhattan skyline in front of her, steel against a cerulean sky streaked hite The memories had cascaded one on top of the other since she woke in the early hours of thisso hard that her chest remained sore, her eyes swollen and her throat raw

He is my husband

Perhaps not in law, but as far as her soul was concerned, Ded to her