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The rapid dispersal of the territories still open to rule was not the only obstacle Janeur who ruled over North America, decided allto Cyprien, who had provided them with sanctuary after they had been freed frokenis, Dr Alexandra Keller, had used her healing skills to repair their broken bodies And while both Thierry and Jae, Cyprien had not exercised his right to end theirthehout their mortal and immortal lives Cyprien and Thierry had been as close as brothers; even during the worst of times that affection had never wavered If Thierry asked Cyprien to deny Jamys the chance to rule his own jardin, Michael would not hesitate to do so

The south-facinggave Jamys a direct view of the lists, which were now eainst the horizon like great storm clouds fallen to earth

Beyond the mountains lay seven territories, six occupied by the finest of Cyprien’s lords paraed to Lucan, once h Lord Richard Tremayne, formerly Cyprien’s bitterest adversary, and still one of the deadliest Kyn lords in the world

Lucan cohly trained, utterly lethal warriors as well as a small army of clever and resourceful hukenis, Samantha Brown, a homicide detective and one of the handful of modern females who had survived the transition fro his household occupied Jahts

Christian

He closed the shutters as her nah his bones

It was no mystery to hih at hand to be had As long as he was careful with them, he could use any mortal female within his father’s household for blood or pleasure or both Nearly every one of the unattached women servants had made it clear they would not object to his attentions

An ample supply for an ienerosity offered, none of theirl he wanted

Jamys went to the co a year ago

He knew so The mortal female had been born in Fort Lauderdale in 1990, and was noenty-one years old After her mother’s death six years past, she had been made a ward of the state and placed in foster care She had escaped it fourthree years later when she had sublet an apartment next to Samantha Brown’s

A year after that, Chris officially took ehtclub that served as the public facade of Lucan’s stronghold Unofficially she served as Sa to a tresoran family, but she was trusted as enerations had provided loyal, unwavering service to the Kyn

After Thierry sent hiery, Jamys had spent a few precious days in Chris’s co his stay he had been iinning only Chris had refused to believe him responsible

You think you don’t need help, fine But I’m the only person who knows for real that you’re innocent

While Samantha and even Lucan had viewed Jamys with suspicion, Chris had instead allied herself with hi him when he was attacked by one of the real murderer’s revenants To help heal his wounds, she had even fed hi existed on the Internet; not that Jaamine features Beneath a cap of fine hair she dyed in the ht eyes the color of a ht sapphire, a pert nose, and aof s about her: the touch of her hand, the shih, the taste of her lips Every word she had said to him remained in his heart, especially those she had used for a final,

You’ll be lucky if I don’t turn into a love-starved groupie and start stalking you

When Jamys had left Lucan’s territory, he had been convinced that Chris was falling in love with hi to his father’s house, he had waited patiently for her to ood on her comical threat When her first e-mail arrived, he had expected her to ask him to cohold, or anything that would assure hiard for hi Lucan to aseparated, and then finding him trapped by a crowd in a shop filled with china and lead crystal wares

Jaift ords, and had no wish to make a fool of himself, so he had kept his reply brief and reserved The silence that followed had crushed his hopes forfor his opinion of a Web site she had created for Lucan’s club

Since then they had corresponded a dozen times by e-mail Chris wrote in a friendly, casual tone, and her it and shrewd observations always made him smile, but she never once spoke seriously of herself or her feelings