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“Wait, don’t go!” Ashwini felt as if she were atte to hold on to a wisp of air, a streamer of mist “I need a trail to follow to find the !”

The echo of the victim tilted her head, looked at her a little blankly But then she said, “It se Madeplace that smelled of peanuts” The air dissipated, the words less than a o”

“Where?” Ashwini asked, the question one that haunted her after all the screams she’d touched in the world, all the pain she’d witnessed “Is it a good place?”

Her only ansas a piercing beep that shattered the world into ashards

•••

Janvier easily took Ashwini’s weight when she staggered back from the bed Alar a flat line But the woman on the bedshe had a smile on her face, a final muscle h-pitched panic

Holding Ash as the doctors rushed back in, he heard her whisper, “No, let her go,” in a voice so hoarse, he only heard it because her breath kissed his jaw on the words “She wants to go”

Janvier gave the order in a louder voice and, when the doctors hesitated, said, “I’ll take full responsibility Give her the peace she wants”

It was the mortal doctor who put her hand on the vaht She suffered too ed to resuscitate her”

Shoulders falling, the vampire physician reached out and pressed several buttons

The alarms went silent, the only sound Janvier could hear that of Ash’s shallow breathing Struggling to lift her lashes and failing, his Ashblade parted her lips, spoke again “She said it sht, her bruisedone arht so no one else would realize her condition In the corridor, he didn’t request that Illiuel was a man Janvier would trust at his back anytiel hundreds of years old, with ht cause Ash further pain even in her unconscious state

“Can you h examination and autopsy?” he asked the other ist who examined Felicity”

“I’ll make sure it’s done” Golden eyes took in Ash’s lax body, the shimmer of perspiration on her skin “Do you need a ride?”