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"Husband," she said as they finished their preparations and headed downstairs for dinner, "have you considered biting your e?"

Lord Maccon stopped abruptly at the head of the staircase and growled, "How on God’s green earth did that bloody wohed "It air’s current proble like an Alpha; why not make it official?"

"It isna as simple as that, wife, and you verra well know it And her chances of survival--"

"Are very slim Yes, I am well aware of that"

"Not siesting that I kill the last living Maccon"

"But if she survived…"

"If"

Lady Maccon tilted her head "Isn’t it her risk to take?"

He remained silent and continued on down the massive staircase

"You should think about it, Conall, as BUR, if nothing else It is theThere was so about the set of his shoulders

"Wait a moment" She was suddenly suspicious "That was the reason you ca, wasn’t it? The faair Pack? Despite the betrayal"

He shrugged

"You wanted to see how Sidheag was handling things Well?"

"There’s this changeless issue," he prevaricated

Alexia grinned "Yes, well, apart froree I have a point"

He turned to frown up at her "I hate it when you come over all correct"

Alexia trotted down the staircase until they were nose to nose She had to stand one step up from him for it to be so She kissed hiood at it"

CHAPTER TWELVE

The Great Unwrapping

They decided the mummy would be unwrapped, for the titillation of the ladies, just after dinner Alexia was not convinced as to the cleverness of this plan Knowing Miss Hisselpenny’s constitution, if the ht just be revisited But it was believed that darkness and candlelight best suited such an illustrious event

None of the ladies present had ever before been to aparty Lady Maccon expressed so the fun Lord Maccon suggested that as he had little interest and he would go relieve Tunstell, thus allowing the claviger at least to participate Tunstell, everyone knew, enjoyed drama

Alexia looked sharply at Miss Hisselpenny, but Ivy held herself composed and untroubled by the possibility of a redheaded thespian and naked mummy in the same room Felicity licked her lips in anticipation, and Lady Maccon prepared herself for inevitable histrionics But it was she, not Felicity or Ivy, who felt most uncomfortable in the presence of the ancient creature

Truth be told, it was a rather sad-lookingboxlike coffin that had only lyphic decorations upon it Once res on the mummy were revealed to be minimally painted with one repeateddid not disgust or frighten Alexia in any way, and she had seen mummies before inabout this particular iven to bouts of sentimentality, so she did not think her reaction an e literally repulsed, in the scientific definition of the word It was as though she and the netic field, and they were the sa one another

The actual unwrapping see ties? They also kept breaking Every time an aasped in delight As more and more of thetoward the door of the roo on tiptoe to witness the proceedings

Being soulless, Alexia had never given death much consideration After all, for preternaturals like her, death was the end--she had nothing whatsoever to look forward to In BUR’s special documentation vaults, an inquisition pamphlet lamented the fact that preternaturals, the church’s last best weapon against the supernatural threat, were also the only hus who could never be saved What Alexia felt, most of the time, was indifference to her own rained practicality that was also due to her soullessness But there was so about this mummy that troubled her even as it repulsed: the poor, sad, wrinkled thing

Finally they worked their way up to his head, exposing a perfectly preserved skull with dark brown skin and some small portion of hair still adhered to it Amulets were re the e mouth Several scarab beetles crawled out of the exposed orifices, plopped to the floor, and skittered about At which both Felicity and Ivy, who had until that moht Miss Hisselpenny, clutching her close to his breast and iven naht Miss Loontwill and was nowhere near as affectionate about it Two sets of expensive skirts draped themselves artistically in ruffled disarray Two sets of boso’s entertainentleair’s barked co room down the hall There the ladies were duly revived with s salts, and rosewater was patted across the brow

Alexia was left alone with the unfortunatecause of all the excitement Even the scarab beetles had scuttled off She cocked her head to one side, resisting the insistent push, which seemed even worse now that there was only the two of the to drive her fro niggling the back of her brain Whatever it was, she could not recall it Turning away, still thinking hard, she made her way into the other room