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"Will you dance with ?" Amelia asked coyly

"Absolutely," Jericho smiled at her and then nodded his chin my way

"I’ll catch up with you later," I offered to Jericho, ignoring the way my hand balled into a fist and wanted to punch Jericho’s face for whatever had happened at Eden’s wedding "A" I finished politely and then felt some of my jealousy subside when she flinched for a second ti ht For some reason I didn’t think she liked her own reaction when I used her full nae me to use it as often as I could

Chapter Five

I stood on the terrace, staring out at Kiran’s ardens while the sun made an appearance on the horizon Analisa stayed away fro I heard she was in Paris for a while, with the Cartiers, but eventually even the entire continent of Europe became too much and she fled to South America I knew Kiran orried about her eiving her space Or that’s at least what Eden had relayed a while ago Eden had given up her personal Guard, Jedrec, to look after her

There had been soeardens that spread out behind the castle and climbed and clawed over the tall Citadel wall, but I couldn’t bring ardens this way for a reason, her own anarchy in a world of hidden i sadness punched ut Analisa had been devastated after Lucan died and not just because of her husband’s death, or the death of those that fought both for and against us, but because at one point in their long, dramatic history, Analisa and reenery and clingy floere dying out in preparation for winter The garden existed in a half-dead, half-alive chaos and it irritated arden because of it I rubbedto snap out of this funk I had fallen into

I needed a change I needed to do so

I wasn’tfor you," Kiran interrupted hts

"Who?" I asked, not turning to face him

"Your council," Kiran replied with a bit of amusement in his voice It used to drive Eden nuts the way Kiran always see at her and not nuts in the way that eventually made her fall in love with him It actually irritated the bejeezus out of her I was starting to get that

"Ah," I sighed "Their demands start early I don’t think anybody went to bed before two last night, including Angelica Where do they get their energy?" I laughed hu in the ardens "Avalon, why don’t you let me take over today? You could use a break, and I could use so to less decisions and arbitrate so feud"

I looked over at him out of the corner of my eye to runted, although I was three seconds fro him up on his offer

"Really, ure out how to share this thing later," Kiran gestured between us and I sighed in relief

"Thank you, really Kiran, thank you," I offered sincerely and walked away before he could change hisof a deal, and he owedI firmly decided today I would not answer one question I didn’t absolutely want to answer and there was no way in hell I would beto relax… take it easy… do nothing

----

Doing nothing lasted all of four hours before I was coh the castle corridors in search of Jericho and so to do Jericho had been relatively silent today I thought I would see hi person and a worthless sleeper, but nothing

I tried to reht, butforwith Ahts, I heard her laughter as it floated down the hallway in an excited rush of energy I followed the sound, not sure what I would say to her, or really what she would say to me She obviously wasn’t impressed by my crown or me for thather eyes when I walked into the room

I had no idea what I did to her to make her dislike me so much, especially since I had never even really met her until she arrived at the castle yesterday But then maybe that was it Maybe it was simply the crown that her uncle used to wear

Or oh, God… I did have a hand in killing her uncle Maybe that was it I knew fro in the Resistance, Lucan had favored her and sodom She probably loved her uncle and because she was so close with everyone else involved she couldn’t blame them

She didn’t know me