Page 1 (1/2)

1

Ghosts didn’t have much substance All they were composed of was memories and heart Atop one of Sept-Tours’ round towers, Eainst the spot in the center of her chest that even noas heavy with dread

Does it ever get easier? Her voice, like the rest of her, was al?

Not that I’ve noticed, Philippe de Cler his own transparent fingers Of all the things Philippe disliked about being dead--the inability to touch his wife, Ysabeau; his lack of sood sparring match--invisibility topped the list It was a constant reminder of how inconsequential he had become

Emily’s face fell, and Philippe silently cursed himself Since she’d died, the witch had been his constant co, barking at her as if she were a servant?

Perhaps it will be easier when they don’t need us anyht be the host, but it was Emily who understood the metaphysics of their situation

What the witch had told hi Philippe believed about the afterworld He thought the living saw the dead because they needed soiveness, retribution

Eo that the dead could appear to them

This information made Ysabeau’s failure to notice him somewhat easier to bear, but notto be so surprised" Diana’s warm alto floated up to the battlements

Diana and Matthew, E down to the cobbled courtyard that surrounded the château

There, Philippe said, pointing at the drive Even dead, he had vaht that was sharper than any huht to be, with his broad shoulders and devilish grin He turned the latter on E back They are a fine couple, are they not? Look how ed

Va of time, and therefore Elinted blue; the sareen eyes, cool and remote as a winter sea; the same pale skin and wide h, as Philippe suggested Matthew’s hair was shorter, and he had a beard that asped

Is Matthewbigger?

He is I fattened hi hiht more and read less Philippe had always contended there was such a thing as tooproof of it

Diana looks different, too More like herthe e in her niece

Diana stumbled on a cobblestone, and Matthew’s hand shot out to steady her Once, En of vahost, she realized that this tendency stee in Diana’s expression, every shift of er Today, however, Matthew’s concern seemed even more focused and acute

It’s not just Diana’s hair that has changed Philippe’s face had a look of wonder Diana is with child--Matthew’s child

Erasp of truth that death afforded

Philippe was right--in part Youtwins

Twins, Philippe said in an awed voice He looked away, distracted by the appearance of his wife

Look, here are Ysabeau and Sarah with Sophie and Margaret

What will happen now, Philippe? E heavier with anticipation

Endings Beginnings, Philippe said with deliberate vagueness Change

Diana has never liked change, Emily said

That is because Diana is afraid of what she must become, Philippe said

Marcus Whitht in 1781 when Matthew de Clermont made hi Diana Bishop that her beloved aunt, Emily Mather, was dead

Marcus had received the phone call fro the television news in the faaret, were dozing on a nearby sofa

"The temple," Ysabeau had said breathlessly, her tone frantic "Corand tilass, and his Aunt Verin on his way out the door

The suhtened further as he approached the clearing at the top of the lih the trees His hair stood at attention at the ic in the air

Then he scented the presence of a vampire, Gerbert of Aurillac And soht, purposeful step sounded down the stone corridor, drawing Marcus out of the past and back into the present The heavy door opened, creaking as it always did

"Hello, sweetheart" Marcus turned frone countryside and drew a deep breath Phoebe Taylor’s scent rerown outside the red-painted door of his farance had sy Massachusetts winter and conjured up his long-deadsmile Now it only made Marcus think of the petite, iron-willed woht" Phoebe reached up and straightened his collar, her olive eyes full of concern Marcus had taken to wearing more formal clothes than concert T-shirts around the san his letters Marcus de Clermont instead of Marcus Whitmore--the name she’d first known him by, before he had told her about vampires, fifteen-hundred-year-old fathers, French castles full of forbidding relatives, and a witch na short of miraculous that Phoebe had reht one of her hands and planted a kiss on the palm Phoebe didn’t know Matthew "Stay here with Nathaniel and the rest of them Please"

"For the final tireet your father and his wife I don’t believe we need discuss it further" Phoebe held out her hand "Shall we?"