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"Why?" Conleth snarled, his angry voice loud against my ear "So you can use her some more? Cheat on her? You don’t deserve her, and she knows it as well as I do She doesn’t love you She loves ht, Conleth Jane does deserve ive her And we can talk about that She can get a chance to know you, properly Just let her go Jane won’t love you if you hurt her You know that"

Out ofup on one side, while Caleb and Daoud advanced from the other I didn’t knohere Phaedra and her lot were, but for the first tih the Alfar would have no qual me aith Conleth, so perhaps I shouldn’t have been quite so eager for the bald wo, nearly taking out my eardrum He’d noticed the others as well "Stop them! Tell them to come where I can see them! I don’t want to, but I will hurt her," he said, as I felt heat atht When Caleb and Cahtened, and I felt the burn of his heat through riestured for Camille, Caleb, and Daoud to come round toward hih of playing negotiator, Anyan suddenly strode forward "Drop her, now," the barghest growled ly "You will die here, boy If you take Jane first, then you will die suffering Let her go, give her to us, and you have a chance at survival" The big ray eyes stared levelly into Con’s, and I knew Anyan was serious I got end He wasn’t just a killer, like Graeer to violence

Conleth swore softly He eighing his options, and he, too, had seen the promise in Anyan’s eyes I felt Con’s body tense, and I shut my eyes, not sure if I was about to die Instead, I felt a jolting pain as Conleth used a coth and his supernatural power to launchsied power that crashed into the terrace’s four trees, sending theht to catch the fla trees with their shields, I hit Anyan It was like hitting a brick wall Only this brick wall caught and held led as his arhtly my vertebrae popped

"Jane," Anyan whispered hoarsely, his hter His breathing was as ragged as e situations made for chaotic eently, as Anyan took off after Conleth, who’d rocketed away as soon as I was out of his grip I sat down,as everyone but those still holding the trees off of us with their shields either took part in the pursuit or began furiously gla to be another "gas leak" in Caht

I sat down, cross-legged, as ed like a puppet whose strings had been cut

Then I heard Julian swear

He’d been holding one of the larger trees Phaedra had finally reappeared and was helping Kaya (or Kaori) lift her fla burdens up and away fro with her power froether, they were piling the still-burning trees up in the huge concrete expanse next to the terrace

But Julian was losing his grip on the tree he held, quivering, above both of us I didn’t yet kno to ical ones, so I genuinely thought my number was up as I watched the fiery tree sway and then break free of Julian’s shields

It stopped about a foot above hat me as if she wasn’t quite sure why she’d done what she did

For a second, I wondered whether she’d changed herto drop the tree on ent flick of her fingers and a second later the tree landed with a crash next to the others to smolder out of harm’s way

I couldn’t believe the little Alfar had just saved my life

But from the look on her face, I was a lot happier about it than she was

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN