Page 34 (1/2)

"When will you coht not o there?" Danii asked, beginning to cry "Just stay withline of queens And one day you will be, too"

"Hoill I find you?"

"If I don't return to you here, you o to Icergard Not until you're shown the way "

Danii shot up in bed, awake in an instant My gods She'd just recollected more of that fateful day when her mother had left her Not until I' Danii to Icergard? And as she only just re this?

The dreaht of that crown on her head Svana had worn it when she'd gone toshe'd likely die How brave she'd been

Danii rose, feeling a pleasant jolt as her bare feetmarble, then crossed to the openThe north wind bleith a proud gust as if e with it

The vampire - who had yet to return - had talked of dreaht Was it the cold or this particular place that drew forth her id winds affected her like adrenaline, each flake of snow a baled in ice hunts, follohispers, explored the countryside And she'd continued to carve arcane sys were simple in form, like the inscriptions on ancient rune stones frons before, and had no idea how she knew the her own ice tablets to carve on, so the them just so She didn't knohy she did this, just felt coer, thinkingnew pastime - and less about the vampire Yes Some minutes less than others At first, she'd wondered if her carving was merely a desperate bid for distraction, like a Valkyrie/Icere equivalent of downing a gallon of Haagen-Dazs

But she'd concluded it must be more, because the compulsion intensified - even as her desire for hi

Murdoch kissed three different wo that first brunette, he'd found hi her lips with his own

And still he'd thought of Daniela Ultimately, he'd broken aith ato hi him not to stop What should have excited hi it was Daniela he kissed

The second woence shining in her eyes So different from his Bride He admired Daniela's tricky mind, liked the way he could rarely read her expressions

The third s perfume and whatever she'd dined on earlier Such a contrast to Daniela's clean scent

Now as he thought back, he realized that not one of the three had tempted him to take her neck Another reason he needed to stay away fro a losing battle, and in his life, he'd bloody had enough of those

He'd died in one

Why fight this? It would have to be easier to resist drinking her than to go without seeing her face again - which was proving i in his bed, as if she were awaiting hi to settle dohy not with the ent fe He recalled the supernatural scene that had greeted hie and came to a determination