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At the top of the stairs, he watched her input the code on the keypad to release the electronic locks "Is there a self-destruct button on that?"

"No, but if you put in the wrong code, it sends a silent alarm to the council’s security company Just before it electrocutes you" She pulled open the steel door, which activated the lighting inside the flat "We take safety measures very seriously"

"I see why"

She watched as Korvelthe racks of weapons and shelves of field supplies interspersed as "If you need blood, fresh supplies are stored in the kitchen The satellite phones will need charging before we can use theuarded"

He picked up a small book from theseat "They store children here as well?"

"Oh, that belonged to ht of the old storybook made her heart twist "My father used this property as a flat when I was young"

"He brought you here?"

"It was the safest place in the city" Feeling aard now, she added, "I’ to wash up Pleaserooe walk-in closet On one side a long rack of fashionable gar froiant; on the other, stacks of body arear had been shelved She chose fro long-sleeved casherie from the drawers beneath the rack, she carried the stack of fresh clothing into the bath so she could change

Simone turned on the sink taps to war only when she srance

Larkspur

She looked over her shoulder, but saw no sign of Korvel As she pulled the shirt over her head the scent grew stronger, until she realized it was co from her own body

Of course she still smelled of him He had been all over her, inside her She would have to scrub every inch of her body to be rid of him

Slowly Simone turned off the taps

At the hotel she had behaved out of anger and jealousy, and she still didn’t understand froed her? Korvel had to useout of the ordinary If anything he’d been clever about it

Why had it felt so different when she’d seen him with those woun to flirt with the man at the bar that Korvel would see her as well She’dthe Spaniard because he ithin the captain’s line of sight She’d also known Korvel would recognize her, even dressed and made up as she had been And when she had left the hotel with that whiskey-soaked fumbler, she had known Korvel would follow That hy she had taken the Spaniard’s keys out of the ignition, and fended off his clumsy embraces She had only wanted to show the captain that she could be just as beautiful and desirable as the woathered to him in the club

All of it si had raced out of control, so fast and so far the rest of the world had faded away He had been so angry, but so had she, and they had somehow beco into outrageous passion Her own behavior had shaain, and cornered her, gently urging her to face what burned between them And then he had her under hithe same to him

Time had melted into Dalí’s pocket watch as she lost herself in his hands, in the exquisite invasion, his flesh into hers She reency of his, and how, for the briefest htened her to feel so destroyed and utterly reain Her desire for hier than ever

She re before she walked out into the bedroom, unsure of what she meant to do Somewhere in the city Pájaro had hidden with the scroll as bait for a dead man In Italy the council waited for word that Sih lord expected Korvel to return and deliver it into his hands Men, goodthe peace between the mortal and immortal worlds, had been tortured and murdered

In the next few hours, the future of the Darkyn and huht be forever altered, even obliterated Si responsibility of it, was a burden she had to carry alone

"This I would take as an invitation" Korvel’s hands curved over her shoulders "If I thought it was forhere, naked in the dark"

As his thu heat flared up in her He had only to touch her and she was his Just as all women were "Who is Alexandra?"

His hands stilled "How do you know that nareenhouse" She turned around "Who is she? Your sygkenis? Your tresora in Ireland?"