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The little girl took a fall but clambered onto her knees, but then the boat tipped onto its side She rolled onto her back and slid along the decking to the open rail Just in tirab onto one of the ; the child held on as best she could as her lower body hung over the side of the boat

A swell of water seerasping, watery tentacles The water appeared to have a irl

Royce didn’t think; she didn’t care about rules or the long-ago Treaty with Man A little girl was in trouble Without thought to herself or the punishment she most certainly would incur for her ‘interference’, she shifted to the child and reirl would be able to see her and not be frightened

“You’re okay—I’ve got you,” Royce said as she held the child cradled in her ar and trying to hold onto seats and whatever they could find as the boat tipped dangerously froe waves

“Moirl shouted out, and Royce spied theher child’s name in her attempt to locate her

“Danielle!” the ain Royce did what she had to do and shifted with the child, put her in her mother’s arms, and shifted away before they could ask any questions or think about what they had just witnessed

She told herself they wouldn’t think about how—they would only be thankful they had found each other

Royce returned to stand at the water’s edge and saw Chance, his legs spread apart and his fist in the air He was co an old Gaelic spell that Royce should have rerimaced to herself I should have paid more attention to my lessons!

She wondered fleetingly where he had learned it, as it was a Seelie Fae spell, but shrugged it off The Milesians were a resourceful lot Chance had been around for the ith the Fae and the subsequent Treaty There was no saying what he had learned along that journey

She worked in tune with Chance, using a spell to round on the vicious ind tornado at its back, but the force of raging wind and water was still gaining speed and power

Royce turned to Chance and watched him She was struck by the determination of the man He did not question, as Trevor did He didn’t worry about interfering with fate He took action She looked around for Trevor, but he was nowhere in sight

Chance LeBlanc was a mystery to her, and at that moht Pestale’s Dark Magic Chance didn’t question the useless, perhaps even outdated, edicts of the Treaty—or the need to allow fate to rule These were traditions and bygone rules of long ago, thought Royce as she watched him Chancemont LeBlanc simply did what needed to be done, and she found herself drawn to his inner strength

Not romantically, she told herself He was still a ‘heartbreaker’, and he had reh the centuries He had never committed to anyone all these hundreds upon hundreds of years In comparison, she was the equivalent of a twenty-year-old human and had not even reached her full ht show an interest in her—would he … could he?

What she wanted was commitment Ridicu

lously, she wondered if he had ever been in love All silly ravity of the situation, and she hurriedly shoved such thoughts away