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“I want us to share that experience—as equals I’ve never sharedwe can do for the first tie of frustration
This ell-covered ground Equality was soing, a racial slur overheard on the tube, an elderlypeople sped by with their headphones and mobiles—all of these made Marcus seethe
“We should have just run off and eloped,” Marcus said “We should have done it our way, and not bothered with all this ancient tradition and ceremony”
But doing it this way, in slow, ether
Ysabeau de Clerrand vampire custom with her usual clarity She started with the recent family scandals Marcus’s father, Matthew, had married a witch in violation of nearly a thousand years of prohibitions against relationships between creatures of different species Then he nearly died at the hands of his estranged, deranged son, Benjamin This left Phoebe and Marcus with two options They could keep her transfor as possible before facing an eternity of gossip and speculation about what had gone on behind the scenes Alternatively, they could transform Phoebe into a vampire before she was mated to Marcus with all due pomp—and transparency If they chose the latter course, Phoebe and Marcus would likely suffer a year of inconvenience, followed by a decade or two of notoriety, and then be free to enjoy an endless lifetime of relative peace and quiet
Marcus’s reputation had played a factor in Phoebe’s decision, too He was known a off to right the evils of the world without a care for what other creatures ht think Phoebe hoped that if they followed tradition in the e, Marcus would enter the ranks of respectability and his idealisht
“Tradition serves a useful purpose, re to all the rules Your secret phone plan is no longer secret, by the way Freyja knows”
“It was always a long shot” Marcus sighed “I swear to God, Freyja’s part bloodhound There’s no getting anything past her Don’t worry Freyja won’t reallyIt’s Miriam who’s the stickler”
“Miria at her watch It was now thirty ht Miriaet off the phone
“There’s good hunting around the Sacré Coeur,” Marcus commented
“That’s what Freyja said,” Phoebe replied
Silence fell It grew heavy with all the things they couldn’t say, wouldn’t say, or wanted to say but didn’t kno In the end, there were only three words ih to utter
“I love you, Marcus Whitmore”
“I love you, Phoebe Taylor,” Marcus replied “No matter what you decide ninety days from now, you’re already my mate You’re under oing to be a brilliant vampire”
Phoebe had no doubts that the transformation would work, and blissfully few that she wouldn’t enjoy being ageless and powerful But would she and Marcus be able to build a relationship that would endure, like the one Marcus’s grandmother had knoith her mate, Philippe?
“I will be thinking of you,” Marcus said “Every moment”
The line went dead as Marcus hung up
Phoebe kept the phone to her ear until the telephone service disconnected the call She climbed out of the tub, smashed the phone with the canister of bath salts, opened the , and threw the luarden Destroying the evidence of their transgression had been part of Marcus’s original plan, and Phoebe was going to follow it to the letter even if Freyja already knew about the forbidden phones What was left of the device landed in the s plonk
Having rid herself of the incri it up inside the arain out of sight on top of it Then she put on the siown that Françoise had laid out for her on the bed
Phoebe sat on the edge of theher future, and waited for time to find her
PART 1
Time Hath Found Us
We have it in our power to begin the world over again
—THOMAS PAINE
2
Less Than Naught
13 MAY
Phoebe stepped on the scale
“My God, you are tiny” Freyja read the nu that looked like a rams”
“I told you to gain three kilos, Phoebe,” Miriam said “The scale shows an increase of just two kilos”
“I did try” Phoebe didn’t see why she was apologizing to these tere on the equivalent of a raw-foods-plus-liquids diet “What difference does one kilo make?”
“Blood volu to sound patient “The heavier you are, the more blood you have”
“And the more blood you have, the more you will need to receive froives back as much as she takes There are fewer risks of rejection with an equivalent exchange of human blood for vampire blood And ant you to receive as much blood as possible”
The calculations had been going on for en uptake If Phoebe didn’t know better, she would think she was on trial for the British national fencing team, not the de Clermont family
“Are you sure about the pain?” Freyja asked “We can give you so for it There’s no need to experience any discomfort Rebirth need not be painful, as it once was”
This, too, had been a topic oftales of their own transfor it was to be filled with the blood of a preternatural creature Va out every trace of hu blood in slowly, a newborn vaenetic material with little or no pain—but there was evidence that the hureater opportunity to reject the e into so else The rapid transfusion of va, but the weakened human body didn’t have the time or resources to mount a counterattack
“I aet this over with” Phoebe’s tone indicated that she hoped to put an end to this conversational avenue—forever
Freyja and Mirialances
“How about a local anesthetic for the bite?” Miria clinical once more
“For God’s sake, Miria like a potential Olyh preoperative consultation ever conducted “I don’t want anesthesia I want to feel the bite I want to feel the pain This is the only birthing process I’ to miss it”
Phoebe was quite clear on this score
“No act of creation has ever been painless,” she continued “Miracles should leave a mark, so that we can remember how precious they are”
“Very well, then,” Freyja said, brisk and efficient “The doors are locked The s are locked Françoise and Charles are standing by Just in case”
“I still think we should have done this in Den the procedure “There are toohearts in Paris”
“Lejre has nearly fifteen hours of daylight this time of year Phoebe wouldn’t be able to stand so ued o;I want us to share that experience—as equals I’ve never sharedwe can do for the first tie of frustration