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I stared in a with every second

"Alec, I&039; I could just melt into the floor

He frowned "Sorry about what?"

"About everything" I waved a hand toward the door through which Kristoff had justwith hi our relationship"

Toain "Sweet, adorable Pia - do you think I hold you responsible for Kristoff forcing hiled at hiled at anyone before

"I&039;ve known Kristoff for at least three hundred years We&039;ve worked together for the council, you see, so I knohat sort of lanced at his watch and pulled out a cell phone "Stay here I&039;ll be back in a led a bit more as he strode off, and ducked outside the door

"I&039;ve lostback over the last couple ofup to ask, "Did he just say he didn&039;t blaave me a bit of an odd look as she deposited our plates "I don&039;t know Are you to blaht for a moment "Yes I wasn&039;t forced, no matter what Alec says"

"Well, then" She nodded as if that settled the matter, and toddled off to deal with other custo situation after another," I told lanced up, expecting to see Kristoff, but the two people who entered had ry I could eat one of those adorable Viking poniesthe other day," Magda said, laughing up at Ray Heand was about to hold out a chair for her when she glanced at the back of the roo momentarily when she saw me "Oh, dammit, Ray, I leftto faint if I don&039;t get soet it for da stood on her tiptoes and flicked her tongue on the tip of his nose "It&039;s not the sa about it all day, would you?"

I wondered absently what it would be like to flick ue over the tip of Kristoff&039;s nose Alec&039;s nose! I meant Alec&039;s nose!

My inner critic shook her head at the slip

Ray, putty in Magda&039;s adept hands, hurried off to do her bidding She waited until the door was fully closed behind hi a beeline to ht I tried checking on you this one, which really wasn&039;t a surprise, because there&039;s no way I&039;d stay in that roo in at any moment Which evidently they did, since there were a couple of them in there when I looked for you They were a bit rude about it, actually, and locked my door to the bathrooain Are you all right? Did you get your things? How did your wedding night go?"

"I&039; a fas The rest of the tour isn&039;t going to show up at any moment, are they? If they are, I&039;d better leave now"

"No, no, eat your breakfast That waffle looks delicious I think I&039;ll get one once Ray comes back, which should be in about tenthe question about the wedding night," she pointed out helpfully

I blushed

"That good, was it? I have to ad type, h"

My blush deepened I tried to hide it by eating so breakfast that sat before uilt, I couldn&039;t s a single bite

"Either you&039;re having two breakfasts, or the new hub is here with you," Magda said, pushing Alec&039;s food slightly to the side so she could lean her elbows on the table "In the men&039;s room, is he? Don&039;t worry, I won&039;t intrude when he comes back I kno it is with honey-da!" I finally snapped "You know it&039;s not like that!"

She laughed, whoot a reaction out of you that wasn&039;t an embarrassed blush Of course I know it&039;s not like that, but I couldn&039;t resist teasing you Although" She eyed me a bit more closely "You do have that air about you of a woman well satisfied"

Myand my face reddened even more

"Ooh, I think I struck a nerve So it wasn&039;t all sacrifice for a good cause with the ht with Mattias," Imy whipped-cream-drenched waffle around the plate

"No?" Her eyebrows rose "Oh, hat&039;s his naher "Really, now And you ?"

"I didn&039;ta shoulder to cry on, someone ould understand what had happened Someone who could make sense of it all for me, because clearly I was beyond that "It just kind of happened"

"Wow," she said softly, watching uilty about it?"

I nodded "Horribly so At the tiht Kristoff was there, and he he oh, it sounds hokey, but I felt like he needed ave in, and now Alec is back and he and Kristoff had a fight about it, and I just don&039;t knohat to do Or think I&039; that things will straighten out so I can et more and more co my arm "They mess with your head"

"No, that&039;s not what I ames with me at least I don&039;t think they are It&039;s just Oh, it&039;s so hard to explain The reapers tell me the vaht in front offor so of reapers"

"So that pretty much cinches who killed the other Zorya," she said quietly, still watchingon "Not necessarily They said they didn&039;t Or at least Kristoff said he didn&039;t, and the da is, I believe hiic, s his attention to me "I hope I don&039;t interrupt?"

"Not at all This is da She&039;s on the tour within on the other side of da murmured, about to leave

"Don&039;t aze with ad aze flickered back and forth between Alec and myself

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence I took a deep breath "Alec, there&039;s so I think you should know"

"Another confession?" he asked, giving oing to tell gle

I didn&039;t think it was possible for me to blush any harder, but I&039;ll be daht up even lass of water to one side of my face in an attempt to cool it down "She knows about you and Kristoff About what you are"

"Ah," he said, eyeing her with a little less happiness "Does she indeed"

"I do," she answered gravely "I ith Pia for ht, you see Well, not the part she spent with the other that is, I ith her while she da floundered a couple of times, stuck in a verbal dead end in her attempt to not broach the touchy subjects of ave a feeble set her things out of the hotel roo back "The Zorya, I presume you mean"

"How did you know she was a Zorya?" I asked slowly,to pound It seelanced at the , but it appeared to be sunny outside, not clouding over as I surmised "I didn&039;t knoho she e ent back towith a glass of water "I thought you said she was"

"I think what Pia&039;s trying to ask and is too nice to do so is whether or not you killed her," Magda said bluntly

Alec glanced at her in surprise before turning his lovely green eyes on me "Is that what you think? That I killed the Zorya?"

"You did leave without saying anything to me," I pointed out "I didn&039;t knohat to think when I woke up to find you gone and a dead woman in , his eyes sincere "I told you I had to leave unexpectedly to handle some business, but that I&039;d be in contact later in the day You didn&039;t get that?"