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I let him pry it froer cooled Through my haze of pain, I realized he straddled me Then metal prickedneed Liquid fire raced throughe

"Whose blood?" I asked

"More of mine" He rubbed his thumb over the spot I hissed in pain

He round Now I truly understood how Devlen felt How the addiction was to blaotten hireed to switch souls with Devlen

I considered This "treatment" had been free What would the next one cost? Would I be able to resist? If I kept using ic, it wouldn’t matter Galen would force me to do whatever he wanted

Twenty-six days The trip fronap to the Lion’s Claw Peninsula lasted a total of twenty-six long, horrible, terrible days Heading west, we crossed the plateau, cut through the narrow tip of Cowan’s lands, bypassing my hometown of Booruby--those days had been athered for ood’s southern border Galen avoided all major towns and cities

We arrived at the Bloodroses’ outer wall in the afternoon Located on the tip of the Lion’s Claw Peninsula, the coood lands The narrow finger of land jutted out into the Jade Sea Blue-green water glinted from both sides of the peninsula The extra beachfront added to their annual pearl harvest

The eight-foot-high stone wall contained only one gate The wrought iron was spotted with rust Galen called to the two guards on the other side They opened it without hesitation The gate’s hinges creaked in protest

The coed in the year since I had visited A few stunted trees and scrub bushes grew in the otherwise barren landscape The tangy scent of the sea filled the area with a h clan s, the only sounds to reach us were the constant roll and crash of the waves and the shriek of gulls as they dived and fought over the discarded oyster shells

Beyond the ed in perfect lines Past thes The beaches on each side of the peninsula had a long structure built in the sand On the northern coast, children dived for oysters, carrying buckets of the area Adolescents pushed wheelbarrows full of sand and hunks of black rocks on the southern coast Aruards watched both The excuse for their presence had been to protect the clan from pirates and thieves

It was quite the operation Pearls, diaic My stomach felt as if I had eaten toothe horses in the stable, Galen led us to Walsh’s office He ignored Walsh’s assistant Her protest died on her lips when he frowned at her S her hands over her bulging belly I sed She looked about fifteen years old--way too young to be with child

Walsh’s skeletal face lit up when he spotted me He stood from behind his desk and came around with his arm extended

"Opal, welco stained teeth as he s white hair