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actually remove it from your physical body too. You never know if one of the guards
might have to wake you up for any reason. Remember you told me when you woke up
in the motel room the first time, the spell had slipped and you had to recast it.
She scowled, intensely disliking the idea of anyone walking into her bedroom when
she was asleep, or possibly breaking the dream without warning.  Okay. Makes sense.
Now that he mentioned it, the whole thing did feel a little dreamy. His arms were
around her, and yes, they felt strong and sure, but somehow they did not seem quite as
solid as they should. Deep down her bones knew the difference because she had
experienced the real thing. She buried her face in him and held on tightly.
He tapped her forehead with a finger.  You re thinking too hard again.
 What, are you afraid I might wake myself up? she said, muffled against his T-shirt.
 You might. Mostly I don t want you to get so tangled up in details that you mull and
stew the night away. The time we have is limited. We need to make the most of it.
 Whose genius idea was this again? Her mutter was truculent.  Oh yeah, it was
mine.
He laughed quietly, took hold of her hand and played with her fingers.  Tell me, how
was your day?
Freaking miserable.  We drove a lot. Then we got here.
She debated whether she would tell him about her sort-of confrontation with Eva then
decided against it for now. She had no idea if he would be calmly pragmatic, or if he
would go all evil alpha and threaten to ruin Eva s army career, or something else equally
over the top and disastrous.
And there would be no point to any of that, especially when she suspected the issue
had been resolved enough as it was. Eva was no Aryal thank God. Pia and Aryal might
have reached a balance so that they could spar together, but Pia knew Aryal had never
forgiven her for the mistakes she had made last spring, and it was likely Aryal never
would.
Argh, harpies. Look them up under the definition of trouble.
She glanced at Dragos. He had tilted his head and was watching her closely.  What
are you glossing over?
She sighed.  Anything else I might have to say would be a complaint.
 Tell me, he said.
She could tell by his expression that he meant it.  I got carsick and couldn t eat all
day. It was awful. The house is magnificent, but you re not here. That s awful too. I m
trying to spare you a long, boring litany of whine.
He frowned.  Were you able to eat supper?
 Yes, I stuffed myself. She paused.  Actually there s nothing to whine about that
supper. It was just damn good. She peeked at him.  Except you weren t here to eat with
me.
 And there it is, he said.  I knew you could get there if you really wanted to.
She pulled her hand from his and touched his lips. He had such a severe mouth. Like
the rest of his hard, rough-edged features, it was stamped with temper and the force of
his personality.
Only she knew how tender and gentle that hard-looking mouth could be. It wasn t fair,
to love someone this much and to have it returned in such a fierce, undying tidal wave of
passion and devotion. It was completely unfair, that fortune should lavish upon her such
an extravagant, rare gift.
 How was your day? she whispered.
 It went as expected, he said.  Mostly. No one died. All of the sentinels went through
to the next round, but then nobody believed anything different would occur. Graydon 
His gold eyes danced suddenly.  You know what a big motherfucker Graydon is. He
turned into a gryphon, and then he just sat down and looked at his opponent, who
forfeited. It was the fastest bout of the day.
She giggled. Mostly she was relieved to be away from the Games, and they had
deliberately arranged for her trip to occur on the same week. She knew it would tie her
into wretched knots to watch people she cared about going through the bouts of combat,
even though they chose to go through it, and the fighting was in a good cause.
But she didn t think she could resist watching and fretting if she was in town. At least
this way she occupied herself with something that really mattered, and Dragos would
stay busy while she was gone.
She said,  I would have liked to have seen that.
 I m sure many, many people in the Tower are DVRing the Games. I ll get somebody
to edit that segment out for you.
 Thank you. She tilted her head.  And how did Quentin do?
Dragos said simply,  He s an elegant fighter. He put his opponent down quickly, and
neither one got hurt. But it may not always go so neatly for him. The bouts will get
messier and harder as the week progresses.
She asked,  Was that the unexpected bit of the day?
The laughter in his eyes died, and his face grew edged and dangerous. For a moment
he looked like what he was, a natural-born killer, and she could see the dragon moving at
the back of his gaze. Before she could say something the dragon eased back, and then
there were other things in his expression, a frown of pain or regret, his mouth tightening
in frustration or anger.
He said,  Rune and Carling were in the stands.
She had wondered how Rune would feel about the week, and if he would watch the
Games. She had never really bonded with Rune, other than to reach a place where they
exchanged friendly banter and agreeable pleasantries. There hadn t been time before he
and Aryal left for Chicago to help investigate the assassination attempts against Niniane.
Then they had traveled to Adriyel to witness Niniane s coronation. After returning and
only spending a week at home, Rune had left again to pay his debt to the Vampyre
sorceress.
He had never come back to New York until now.
She asked gently,  Did you talk with him?
Dragos shook his head, his face hard.
Such a stubborn, proud male. She stroked his inky, silken hair, the short strands
flowing through her fingers like water. Even more gently, she asked,  Did you want to?
His jaw set.  No.
That was too complex an answer to be either a truth or a lie. It felt like neither, and
both. She didn t know how to help Dragos with this, other than to listen. She was just
glad they were finally talking about it, at least a little. She had tried to broach the subject
before a couple of times, only to run into a rare stone wall.  Were you angry when you
saw them?
His eyes flashed again.  Yes.
She rubbed his chest soothingly.  Maybe somewhat hurt too, or regretful?
 Those are useless emotions, he growled between his teeth.
She nodded. Definitely hurt and regretful.  And I m guessing jealous too. She met
those angry, dangerous gold eyes.  Carling took something of yours that you valued
highly, and you re never going to get it back, at least not in the same way.
His expression went blank. For a long moment she waited as he stared into space,
and she did not know where he went in the complex, serpentine pathways in his head.
Then his gaze snapped to hers, and he was back with her again. He lifted a shoulder.
 And I also understand, he said, his voice deepening.  Because if I had to, I would leave
everything for you too.
They looked into each other s eyes. Then they moved at the same time to hug each
other tightly.
Dragos rolled her across him gently so that she lay on her back. He spread his hand
over the slight rounded swell of her stomach, brought his head down and kissed her. She
murmured, fingering his hair as a heavy, languid pleasure drenched her body.
Their mating frenzy had eased after a month or so, which had almost been a relief. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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