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Uthyr shrugged his large wings --Your thoughts have been grim ever since you learned of your mate's possible return--

"I've felt this way for sohtrelief"

He'd waited ten thousand two hundred and thirty-four years, three months, and seventeen days for his female to return to him

What if she truly had? What would happen to hieance was done?

What would happen to her?

As if it were yesterday, Sian recalled the day he'd met Princess Karinna of Sylvan He'd been outside the newfound Pando-Sylvan portal when he'd caught her h the rift to track the thread to its source, suspecting he would find his mate

The unfiltered sun had stung his eyes, teht of heaven had been her face, the first sound her voice She'd been twenty-four, a practiced flirt, and entrancingly lovely

He'd been a pup of sixteen I never stood a chance against her

He'd trusted in a dom--

A wave of deja vu hit hi his body reeled He could almost scent Kari, as if he were back in Sylvan on that first day so long ago

How could it be? Did he dream?

His htened as they did before battle This was no dreaods"

Uthyr lifted his snout --What is it?--

Sian's lips drew back fros "The bitch's scent"

FOUR

The Happiest Place on Earth

"Hey, somebody want to let me in?" Lila called outside the concealed employee door

All she wanted was to get back to her apartht Yet some chucklehead had locked Lila out

Yanking off her tiara, she waved at the cahed more than a dozen pounds; she itched to peel it from her tired body "Hellooo! Fuckers!"

She gazed around Probably wouldn't be good if so, "Still, fuckers," she started toward another entrance She was hungry and exhausted, but still keyed up fro

Carried away in theback, she'd told Saetth, "I won't rest until I discover a way to hurt Abyssian Infernas" In other words, keep that extraction teaure out what his weaknesses are and how to exploit the I can to destroy him"

Now doubts about this plan crept in Too many questions and variables ree of future political plots or be excluded from them

Hindsight Twenty Whatever

She peeled off her opera gloves, stuffing them into her secret pocket, then pulled out her hidden phone to order takeout Her fake "real life" would continue, and she planned to speed-read a new series of how-to books

Her ears twitched and her fingers paused on the dial screen when a grating screech sounded, likeand insect chatter went silent

The screech cah she knew anyone who'd ever asked that question was already in deep shit

Quiet answered her No, no, just ination Still, she pocketed the phone and hastened down the pathway

Of course she was ju, and now she had a capture to anticipate

Sooner rather than later

Apparently, she would do anything to get back to Sylvan--even act as a bounty hunter's quarry in order to infiltrate a primordial demon's home in hell

The only probleht be leaving herself vulnerable to the archer--

Tomen materialized on the path not ten feet from her Loreans

One had black hair; the other was a redhead Both were gorgeous They wore Sorceri garb--auntlets

Had one of the to produce that screech? To spookLila had no powers to defend herself; her only asset was her speed

They stood in front of a shie stone keep Silken material lay pooled on the floor, as if the Sorceri had tossed it through the rift