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facing hiholds He beheaded me-the bloas true, and deadly for any other But I rose He used his brute strength to topple the roof, trappingcloser to her covered ankle "Sabine, how much can I trust you?"

"Probably not as much as you can Hettiah Shouldn't you be with her now?"

"She doesn't understand things as you do And as much as I will it differently, she is a pale coht"

"Did you come into my room just to state the obvi­ous?" Her brother's attraction to Sabine wasn't fueled only by her looks She believed Oered for death In lieu of that, he hungered for her, a worazed his forefinger over her covered ankle, his eyes slid shut and drool collected at the cor­ner of his lips Stifling a shudder, she hastily rose, then crossed to the seaside balcony

This place always calthe sea

O far too close No warmth emanated from him He was cold and deadened like a corpse

Rydstro heat

"You should go, brother I have a challenging day toame to be the first to break the iron will of Rydstro him"

When she could feel his cold breaths on her neck, she whirled around, hastening to her chamber's drink service She poured sine-only for herself-then held up her goblet to Omort "Brother, do be a dear and poison ave her and Lanthe thebite poison" The power of the estion but upon withdrawal

Weaning fro that she and Lanthe were considered per­petually "condereat they'd eventually die fro O For thehier As he snapped open the jeweled covering of his poison cache, she stared at the ring It held so nificance for her It was the source of life, the enforcer of her obedience

And the ring told her when Omort lied, as he'd unconsciously rotate it

When he poured the black granules into her wine, a hiss sounded and smoke tendrils seeped upward But once it settled, it would be odorless and tasteless to those eren't trained to detect it

Ages ago, he'd slipped the morsus into their wine before they'd learned to identify potions by smell and taste-and before they'd learned to create their own to counter hioblet "Slainte" She drained the contents "Now, I really need to get so this for us And I know you want us to succeed"

"Very well, Sabine" With a last lingering gaze, he finally exited, but not before she heard him murmur, "Soon"

Chapter 5

Alone once more, she returned to the balcony As she surveyed the tumultuous sea and breathed deep of the salt air, she mused over her current situation

Plots and subplots She wanted Tornin for herself and for Lanthe Yet after tonight, she suspected Omort would try to force her to surrender before she ever even got a chance to make her play

She shivered He'd been e with hi over him like a cloak She felt pensive, unclean

For the first tiaze wasn't held fast by the sea She turned to the south, toward the dungeon tower