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Then that thought ept away as she cli him with her, so that he came in the middle of her spasms and cries, h her ar with hi in tandee

When his head dropped to the pillow next to her head, his fists were curled around her head, touching her loose hair He felt her soft breath on his shoulder And while she was there, pressed against his temple, she spoke to him

I’m sorry, Dev She looked up at hiave you the third mark

It wasn’t hard to discern why He’d felt her worry, knew she’d been violently opposed to hi his neck out on her behalf

She didn’t think he had a chance tomorrow, and she’d decided in her typically unilateral way that this would give hi opportunity

Do you knohy so many seventeenth-century sailors never learned to swim, my lady? Because if they fell off the ship and were inadvertently left behind, they would drown ony

It took him considerable effort, but he lifted his upper body to discover why there was a raw, burning sensation on his chest He’d beenthat looked like a cross between a tattoo and a scar The design was a raven, his skin pers stretched over either pectoral, the lifted head and sharp beak engraved over his sternum

As he pulled away fro the mark, he recalled the quote froods

The Tibetans considered the bird special, aAnd in Norse ht the day’s news to hi else A different story, depending on which shore your feet were planted But he could see how all of it figured in to vampires

He knew she was likely waiting for hi feltrenified, but not in a disturbing or irritating way It was just so much clearer And while he was a fit h to lift an opera singer off her pins, or run for

“It’shim closely “But in a few hours, your capabilities and senses will have actually improved dramatically”

“A few hours’ wait to become a superhero Well, that’s pretty intolerable, love, when all’s said and done” Pacing across the room with some caution, he used the mirror to examine the raven

“When a servant is given a third mark,” she explained, before the silence between them drew out further, “it always manifests itself in some way upon him or her Va of why it happens, though ic Dev”

He turned, looked at her “I understand why you did it, love Maybe one day you’ll trustto protect me You think I don’t have a chance in hell, and that I’” She turned away, slid out of the bed Her back to hi it over her shoulders “It will be dawn soon,” she said shortly “Charles is giving you the day to get ahead of theht at dusk”

“He’s pretty confident”

“Vampires can move at swift speeds Not as fast as we move in short distances, but still er to tire If you can cover twenty miles a day, they can cover forty-five, maybe even up to sixty”

“So I go withto match theirs”

“It’sOh, damn it all” She turned to face him, i that binds you to me

Well, bloody hell, of course it does But II wanted to give you a chance, damn it”

The look on her face was one he hadn’t seen before Sad, almost desolate Alone

“You’ve taken the choice fro rather thin” But he said it mildly