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"Careful, now Just a taste"

The goblet tipped up, and I openedthe small sip that he allowed me

"Keep your eyes closed What do you taste?"

I rolled the wine around reater than the suain"

I sed the wine, felt it caress my throat all the way down to my belly, where it settled, hot andbut not much Cri into drink or other illicit substances that tended to ht--the wine he pressed insistently againsta hand around his wrist to hold it there The flavor eluded hted My fingers tightened around his arullet

"Is it your blood, Vale?"

"No Of course not I don’t want to o mad, bébé" He winked "At least, not that way"

My fingers didn’t relax, and his bones ground together in rasp, but to his credit, he didn’t flinch

"What, then? Soic?"

A peculiar distrust rippled through lass into the fire, where it shattered and sent sparkly red fla up the chi up as I tried to puzzle out what he had given rown too coiven this avowed brigand more trust than ise He could have poisoned irl crush on him and felt as if I was filled with helium every tie frat parties without getting roofied, only to fall for the first drink set toI didn’t want to believe he was a villain, but that siven me

He took a step back, hands down, eyes wary "Bébé, you’re taking it all wrong It was unicorn blud, nothing more There’s a certain cabaret where the Maestro and his Freesian Tsarina stay soes of bloodwine I nipped one and thought I’d surprise you I assunize the taste of unicorn I’m told your people prize it"

I licked ic before, and I was angry now but not insane "Is it supposed to tastefizzy? Warm?"

"Airy, yes Effervescent, they say That bottle of wine is one of thea crate as I cah the catacoe of the desk, pushing it closer to a brilliant bouquet of olden pot ht h I was saving it for Saturday

I uine type Criminy and Cherie both had tried to teach ue, but it didn’t follow the usual rules of language, and I’d given up The bottle was thick, green glass, the label hand-painted with tiny letters and edged with gold A fierce unicorn stood ra to know I’d just thrown a hissy fit over so completely stupid The taste still tickled e the subject or start crying over what an idiot I was for doubting him Rattled by annoyance, I snatched the card from the flowers and tossed it into the fire

"Did you see it?" I blurted out

"See what?"

I kept my back turned so he couldn’t see my reaction "The show"

"I’m so sorry, bébé I e for several days and made Blaise promise to let me know as soon as you were on the schedule You surprised the hell out of everyone today Twice" He stepped close behindthe tension inincident His voice went soft "Were you hurt?"

I shook my head no "Told you I was mostly indestructible" My eyes strayed to a poster on the wall that showed Li, and I spun around suddenly "Wait How did you knoas in Li to see her?"

He choked on a laugh "Oh la la, so jealous Do you think I’d be bringing a daimon a bottle of stolen bloodwine? And do you think I’d actually want to spend time with a nasty tart like that, even if she could stand me?"

His firelit eyes found reen that recalled the land I pushed the homesickness down to focus on the thrill I experienced every tione and you’d spent the afternoon in here, and there’s a convenient , and I had some news, so I took a chance I do believe that’s the quickest I’ve seen a girl e to stardo mad like that"

I looked down, the scrap of crea uess that’s a good start, right?"