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"Really?" Miles's face lit up just long enough for him to take it as a corounded If you askthis way out of proportion Keeping you under their thuht--"

"I know"

"Don't look now, I'roaned "Is that er?"

"I just had the pleasure" Luce laughed "She wants to see you"

"I'm sure she does Please don't think all my relatives are like her When you --"

Thanksgiving with Miles Luce had cootten about that

"Oh" Miles atching her face "You don't think Frankie and Steven are going to ed "I gured that hat `until further notice'you sad" He put a hand on Luce's bare shoulder She'd been regretting the sleeveless dress until now, until his ngers lay across her skin It was nothing like Daniel's touch--which was electrifying andnonetheless

Miles stepped closer, lowering his face to hers "What is it?"

She looked up into his dark blue eyes His hand was still on her shoulder She felt her lips parting with the truth, or what she knew of the truth, ready to pour out froht he was Which ht she was That everything she'd felt about Daniel at Sword & Cross was still there--itwas also so di erent And that everyone kept saying that this lifetime was di erent, that it was time to break the cycle--but no one could tell her what that ether Thaton her own

"It's hard to put it all into words," she said nally

"I know," Miles said "I have a hard ti I've sort of been wanting to tell you--"

"Luce" Francesca was suddenly standing there, practically wedging herself between the you back to your roo on her own

"And Miles, your aunt Ginger and Steven would like to see you"

Miles tossed Luce one last sy across the terrace toward his aunt

The tables were clearing out, but Luce could see Arriane and Roland cracking up near the bar A cluster of Nephili beside a tall boy with bleached-blond hair and pale, almost white skin

SAEB It had to be He was leaning into Shelby, clearly still interested, but she was clearly still pissed oSo pissed o , she didn't even notice Luce and Francesca walking nearby--but her ex-boyfriend did His gaze hung on Luce The pale not-quite-blue of his eyes was eerie

Then so down to the beach, and Shelby snagged SAEB's attention by turning her back on hi he'd better not follow her to the party

"Do you wish you could join them?" Francesca asked as they moved further from the commotion of the terrace The noise and the wind both quieted as they walked along the gravel path back toward the doran to wonder whether Francesca was responsible for the overriding tranquility

"No" Luce liked all of theh, but if she were to attach the ish to anything right now, it wouldn't be to go to some party on the beach She would wishwell, she wasn't sure for what For so to do with Daniel, thaton, perhaps That instead of protecting her by withholding knowledge, he would ll her in on the truth She still loved Daniel Of course she did He knew her better than anyone Her heart raced every time she saw him She yearned for him But hoell, really, did she know hi the path to the dorm Very subtly, her arms extended out at either side, like a ballet dancer at the barre

"Not lilies and not roses," she ertips started to tremble "What was it, then?"

There ca pulled froarden bed, and suddenly,up on either side of the path Thick and lush and a foot tall, these weren't just any owers

They were rare and delicate wild peonies, with buds as big as baseballs The owers Daniel had brought Luce when she was in the hospital--andthe path at Shoreline, they shiht like stars

"What was that for?" Luce asked

"For you," Francesca said

"For what?"

Francesca touched her brie y on the cheek "Sos come into our lives out of nowhere We can't always understand them, but we have to trust in the, but sometimes it pays to just have a little faith"

She was talking about Daniel

"You look at me and Steven," Francesca went on, "--and I knoe can be confusing Do I love him? Yes But when the nal battle comes, I'll have to kill him That's just our reality We both know exactly where we stand"

"But you don't trust him?" "But you don't trust him?"