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Nina stood in the darkness across from the opera house Dressed all in black, she blended into the shadoatching Giovanni

He aiting, she thought, waiting for his little ballerina to e the night, searching, Nina knew, for her

Nina s revenge, that he could protect that silly little mortal woman?

The smile died on her lips as she recalled how he had refused to share a single night with her In a thousand years, no man had ever refused her and lived to tell it

But she would not kill Gianni - it would be soto destroy his woman

Or so she told herself It was a lie, and she knew it, but she refused to acknowledge that she si herself to destroy him, that even now, after all these years, after the way he had coldly dismissed her, he was the only man she had ever truly cared for, and he had refused her because of another woall It was unthinkable that a man who had once adored her had spurned her in favor of that doe-eyed creature with her innocent blue eyes and pale blond hair

Eyes narrowed, she stared at Giovanni, and at that moment she hated him, hated him as fervently as she loved him

In a thousand years, she had desired many men, made love to many ive anyone a part of herself It seemed ironic, somehow, that the only man hom she wanted to share a part of her existence did not want her

And for that, the woh the woht, shielding her presence from Gianni

Not too soon