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But Claire had always been a stubborn, sentimental fool
A little fool that was clinging to her in sleep with a face so full of nize her Claire was ten kinds of ross state of her feet; it was soa fes—not at all the spirited girl she had been when they were kids A small part of Maryanne wanted to ask what had happened The larger, more reasonable part, was determined to wash her hands of this trouble as soon as possible Whatever was going on between Claire and Shepherd, whatever had caused Claire to provoke a et dragged into it
Defiled, manipulated, betrayed, and broken…
Well, that happened to everyone Apparently it was just Claire's turn Threading her fingers into the tousled, sooty hair, Maryanne began to comb out the knots
Claire pressed nearer, a whi in her throat "Shepherd…"
And that was the final reason Maryanne would not be able to keep her Everything went back to that pair-bond Claire e and pain, but eventually she would waver and crack It was inevitable, a tie of souls or so wild, Shepherd would hunt her, be fixated on a ra would change the outco; in fact, the way it looked now, Claire owed her
Maryanne closed her eyes and cursed Shepherd to hell
When she woke, there was no need to er; Claire had oneIt was strange to walk through Thólos
Claire h the apocalypse Everything she saas far worse than the nighth the streets Nothing seemed alive; no stores were open, no restaurants offered food Buildings stood in shalass and debris scattered about Even bodies were left in the streets to freeze
As her stroll continued, the warmth of Maryanne's bed leached away as if Claire had never known the co she could unsee all of it In less than a year the city had become a wasteland, another world that poisoned all it touched with frost, ice, and loss
Shepherd's plan had been a success Thólos was destroying itself, and all the man had to do was sit back and watch
A whoosh of breath left her lungs and Claire stopped walking Hunched against the as a dead child—blue, frozen—a little boy no older than nine