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I shrugged "I didn’t either"

"We probably should have suspected after we overheard hi around behind Azazel," I replied

"If he could do that, he could do anything," Beezle said

"Yes," I said faintly

He flew to me, hovered in front of me, put his tiny claws on my cheeks "It’s okay to cry"

"Okay," I said, and I did

After a good cry, and a thorough washing in the shower in which I scrubbed everywhere Nathaniel touched at least a thousand times, I curled up in bed with the blankets over ht, I couldn’t sleep a bit Beezle didn’t sleep either,door despite the fact that we’d hooked a chair under the doorknob

When the first rays of dawn trickled in through the , I sat up in bed and threw the blankets off, done with the pretense of trying to sleep

"Breakfast?" Beezle asked, stretching

"I’ry," I said

I didn’t want food I wanted Gabriel If he had been here, Nathaniel never would have even tried to hurt me If Gabriel had been here, I would never have been alone with Nathaniel in the first place

But you took care of yourself, didn’t you? I thought Well, yes, I had When it ca man But it would be nice to have a partner to lean on, and that hat Gabriel was to me When he ith me, I felt all the broken, empty parts of me were filled, and just at that moment it seemed like there were more broken and empty parts than usual

I walked to the , looked down at the hustle and bustle in the courtyard It appeared thatat Amarantha’s court Several black limousines were lined up near the front door

I wondered if Wade had told Aht, and I wondered where Gabriel was now, if he was safe, if I would ever be able to find hireeted the new arrivals I felt that little flutter in my chest that I had felt the day before, the one that had felt like jealousy, and I knew that it was unfair If I wasn’t going to date JB, then I couldn’t be upset if he chose someone else