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I smile "You know, I think we look a lot alike, htest of lifts occur at the corner of her hter nod of the head

Then, she shifts her gaze to the far side of the room To the trunk She moves toward it and stands there

I look at her "I know you’re trying to tell er She points to the chest, but says nothing

I ease toward her slowly and glance down at the chest I open it Inside, the scathe Gawan of Conwyk gavewith the Pict verse

Then, Lily looks at me, turns her head, and points to the bed

Where I’d laid Eli’sa shower

Our gazes hold "Do you think I can find hiaping black orbs Then, she nods and points back down, to the scathe

"With that?" I ask her

Again, she nods Then, she turns and crosses the chamber and stands beside the hearth She simply stares at me Somehow, those black orbs beckon me She points to the hearth

A loud rap at the door sends her into a blurred vapor Then gone

"See ya," I whisper, staring at the place she’d just pointed I’ll talk to her again Later Then I turn to the door "It’s open"

Noah walks in, and I hear his intake of breath at the doorway "Damn, Poe," he says after several seconds He walks over to oes froown up to the bodice Those mercury eyes finally ive him the twice-over, too He’s dressed in a tailored black tux Sun-bleached dreads are pulled back with a black leather and silver clasp His face is marked by ridiculous beauty no man should ever possess He had to have had the shit beat out of hiet beat up

A slow smile transforant Part predatory Partendearing

Only if you know and love hiuess

I remeaze "Damn," I say in return "You clean up pretty nice, Miles But I didn’t think you were going to the event Only lurking outside"

"Jake says to lurk outside, you need to look as if you belong inside," he answers He stretches one arinary lint with his hand "Not bad, if I say so et my shoes" I turn to the bed, pull the heels out of the box, and slip them on I walk back to him and look up "I’m almost as tall as you are now"

Noah’s jaw ray "You’re beautiful, Riley In a gown or a sweaty pair of training pants Either way," he says "Exquisite"

Heat floodsyour special hoodoo concoction that keeps your sexuality tamped down?"

Noah has a special feature He’s so sexually potent and alluring to females--of all species--that he has to wear a charmed mixture of hoodoo herbs around his neck, or females everywhere will throw and claw their way into his pants Sounds like so to hireeary I can tell you firsthand, though, when he’s not wearing the char rins Wide

I shake rab the feather-light sheath and strap and own and attach it to h I ease the dirk into the sheath I eye the scathe’s hiding place, in the trunk I want to take it but Jason had said the best place for it was gripped in ht For now, it stays My hope soars noith the possibility of finding Eli Even if itinto the Underworld I sure as Hell will do it In a heartbeat "Okay, ready" Noah, whose gaze is kinda stuck to h, shakes his head and sticks out his aro," I say, and look at hih fills the corridor

"Who were you talking to when I first came to your door?" he asks as we head downstairs

We pass the darkened alcove midway down the corridor, and I see Lily in the recesses of the shadows As we pass, I sive her a little wave She literally smiles back at me "Oh, so look h out loud

Downstairs, I have to catch ine a room full of vampires, olves, and imowns Breathtaking is all I can say I adon tattoos exposed and the wing on owns, Ginger in a chane blush and Sydney in soft plum, they have jewelry to match I wear no jewelry My ink, s