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"Stupid, Empress!" In her temple, Circe clenched her trident

From the river, a wave rose up in the form of a hand, poised to slap me I scrambled back "What?"

The wave dissipated, and her waterdissolved,with the surface "You can always bed hi "But with each hour, his heart grows as cold as his sword"

Aric was strangling his heart as well

Alone, I stared at the river and recalled his words froods, I desire you, but you iven, sievā Wholly entrusted to you Have a care with it"

Yet I hadn’t

He believed that if we slept together--if we took that step--I’d finally be his For the last two ain, only to have his hopes crushed each tio, we’d been on the verge, but I’d balked because of a lack of protection--and my love for another man Before I escaped hi fro to murder him once more With his eyes devastated, he’d said, "You’d kill me before you ever accepted me"

Why wouldn’t he turn his heart from me? If I went to him with another empty promise, I would lose him

A life with hiues But now the idea of us growing old together seehable Did er factor?

I had learned ed

Shouldn’t that lesson apply to everything? If I was fated to be with Aric, then maybe Death was inevitable In every sense

On an to fall

33

The Hunter

Closer to her

I was freezing cold, but sweat slicked the truck’s vinyl bench Fever blazing? My s rattled I shook, rocking uncontrollably

None of that mattered, no, ’cause I could see Evie Pretty blue eyes and curving lips

She liked to take care of rave;re I could see her so clearly that she had to be here with me; I could even smell her honeysuckle scent "Evie, bébéthat really you?"

The truck slammed to a stop Matthew’s door opened Thenposition

Evie wasn’t here Gutted,down

Did it snoherever she was? Could she be thinking about ain

Just once

"Your future refuses to behave" Coo-yôn yanked off the jacket he’d sourced for me Up was down Then he stepped back And released round Was the sosie du me on the side of the road? ’Cause I was about to die? "Now, let’s just talk’bout this, coo-yôn"

He caught hold of ed me farther away from the truck He’d hauled me intoa bank of snow