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Dani, Ca you can say will fix this

That's right It's broken Lilith let go, and Cae contract and flung it into the river It spun slowly in the current and sank I hope I live a thousand years and have a thousand daughters so there will always be a woman who can curse your name She spat in his face, then turned and ran back to the te behind her like a sail

Ca robe He reached for Dani's hand to help himself up Do you have a starshot, Dani?

No Dani's voice shook Don't talk like that You'll get her back, or else--

I was na?ve to think I could have gotten aith loving a mortal woman

If you'd only told her, Dani said

Told her? What happened tosince? Caht about e thinks I am a demon Even if they won't use the word

They know nothing

Ca to deny it, but love is impossible, Dani

It is not

It is For souls like ours You'll see You er than I could, but you'll see Both of us will eventually have to choose

"No"

So quick to protest, brother Cam squeezed Dani's shoulder It makes me wonder about you Don't you ever think about itcrossing over?

Dani shrugged away I think about her and only her I count the seconds until she'll be with ain I choose her, as she chooses me

How lonely

It's not lonely, Dani barked It's love The love you want for yourself, too--

I meant: Im lonely And far less noble than you are Any day I fear a change is co on

No Now Dani moved toward Cam You wouldn't

Cah to be bound to our lover by a curse

Daniel remembered this empty insult: It had made him furious But still, he shouldn't have said what came next:

Go, then You won't be retted it instantly, but it was too late

Cam rolled back his shoulders and threw out his ars bloo across the grass where Daniel, Shelby, and Miles were hiding The three of the and--

Wait a old!

Miles blinked How can they not be gold? Of course the Nephili color was as clear as night and day: gold for demons, silver or white for everyone else And the Cam they kneas a des were pure, bright white, as radiant as dia-ago Cam had not crossed over yet He was merely on the brink

That day Lilith lost Cam as a lover, and Daniel lost him as a brother From this day on, they would be enemies Could Daniel have stopped him? What if he hadn't spun away fros like a shield--the way he watched Dani do now?

He should have He burned to burst forth from the bushes and stop Cam no s did not yet have the tortured netic pull toward each other All that repelled them in this moment was a stubborn difference of opinion, a philosophical sibling rivalry

Both angels rose fro a different direction So when Dani soared east across the sky and Carass were the only ones to see the glea bolt

Chapter Seventeen

WRITTEN IN BONE

YIN, CHINA QING MING

At the far end of the Announcer's tunnel was an engulfing brightness It kissed her skin like a suia

Luce plunged toward it

Unbridled glory That hat Bill had called the burning light of Daniel's true soul Merely looking upon Daniel's pure angelic self had made an entire community of people at the Mayan sacrifice spontaneously co Ix Cuat, Luce's past self

But there had been a moment

A moment of pure wonder just before she died, when Luce had felt closer to Daniel than she ever had before She didn't care what Bill said: She recognized the glow of Daniel's soul She had to see it again Maybe there was soh it She had to at least try

She burst out of the Announcer into the cold emptiness of a colossal bedrooer than any roo about it was lavish The floors were crafted of ss er's head Four ti The walls were made of woven bamboo Near the open as an enorold silk A tiny telescope rested on the 's ledge Luce picked it up, parting the gold silk curtain to peer outside The telescope was heavy and cold when she held it up to her eye

She was in the center of a great walled city, looking down from a second story Awattle-and-daub structures The air arm and smelled softly of cherry blossoms A pair of orioles crossed the blue sky