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"Ah, Miss Tarabotti! Welcoreet Alexia was not at all what she had expected The lady was short, plu, her cheeks rosy and her cornflower-blue eyes sparkling She looked like a country shepherdess stepped out of a Renaissance painting Alexia glanced about for her flock They were there, of a kind

"Countess Nadasdy?" she asked tentatively

"Yes, entlemen there is His Grace the Duke of Heestured as she spoke Her raceful and too contrived They looked as though they had been well studied, as carefully articulated as a linguist speaking a foreign tongue

Aside from Miss Dair, who smiled kindly from her place on the settee, no one seemed particularly pleased to see her Miss Dair was also the only drone present Alexia was certain the other three were vah she knew none of them socially, she had read so her more adventurous academic pursuits

"How do you do?" said Miss Tarabotti politely

The party all s

Lord A the way roirls expect vaant with aquiline features and deep ful eyes Dr Caedes was also tall but skinny as a walking stick, with thinning hair stopped mid-retreat by h Alexia knew fros that his Royal Societywork, not a physician’s license The last hive member, the Duke of Hematol, was nondescript in a premeditated way that rearded hireat wariness and respect

"If you do not ht I shake your hand?" The Westminster queen moved toward her with that abrupt and smooth supernatural suddenness

Alexia was taken aback

Up close, Countess Nadasdy looked less jolly, and it was clear her rosy cheeks were the product of artifice, not sunlight Under layers of cream and powder, her skin was ashen white Her eyes did not sparkle They glittered as hard as the dark glass used by astronomers to examine the sun

Miss Tarabotti backed away

"We need to confir at her

She grabbed Alexia’s wrist fir The moment they touched, much of the hive queen’s hardness vanished, and Miss Tarabotti was left wondering if once, long, long ago Countess Nadasdy had actually been a shepherdess

The vas

"I object most strenuously to this action, ree with this approach to our situation," Lord Ary at her preternatural state or at her physical effect on his queen

Countess Nadasdy let go of her wrist Her fangs reappeared They were long and thin, alically spiny, hat looked like barbed tips Then, with a lightning-fast ernails A long line of red appeared on Lord Ambrose’s face "You overstep your bond duties, child of my blood"

Lord A and healing itself "Forgive me, my queen; it is only your safety that concerns me"

"Which is why you are e of mood, Countess Nadasdy reached to caress the very part of Lord Ambrose’s face she had just sliced open

"He speaks nothing but truth You allow a soul-sucker to touch you, and once you are mortal, all it takes is one fatal injury" This tih-pitched, with a fuzziness around the edges, a sound wasps make before they swarm

To Alexia’s surprise, the countess did not claw his face open Instead she ss Alexia wondered if they had been filed into that extraordinary shape

"And yet, this girl does nothingto reer is inherent in her kind"

"We reh," said the Duke of Hematol His voice was calmer than the other two butlike stea kettle

The hive queen took Miss Tarabotti gently by the arh Alexia s desperately to identify "We were never in any direct danger from the female preternaturals; it was only ever the males" She spoke to Alexia in a conspiratorial whisper "Men, they do so enjoy the hunt, do they not?"

"It is not the ability to kill that worries me Quite the opposite," said the duke softly

"In which case it is you gentlemen who should avoid her and not I," replied the countess slyly

Lord Ahed snidely at that remark

Miss Tarabotti narrowed her eyes "You asked me to come here I do not wish to be an imposition, and I will not be h to break the countess’s grip, and turned to leave