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I shiftedto the memory of her taste, her skin My blood thickened and every cell ached to finish e’d started in that bedroom, and damn the consequences

His eyes narrowed “How much trouble?”

Enough to kill us both

“It’s nothing you should be worried about” Not because I wasn’t up shit creek without a paddle, but because he had bigger issues to focus on I er and death, but he was dancing on a tightrope right over the only hell that was preferable to death—bloodmadness

He stared atthat he could see exactly how otten ourselves into He’d always been the best of us at reading body language— to do with his ability to know exactly what so sigh, turning his attention back to the stars “Is she any closer to finding Avianna?”

“I don’t think so, but she’s working her ass off” I glanced back to where Jocelyn was still casting,around her entire body in tendrils of purple light “She’s either in coventheir loyalties, helping us search witch territory for any sign of the twins, or exhausting herself ically with dozens of locator spells I pro she can”

“I’” Hawke’s jaw tensed, but still, he looked up at the sky “Avianna was my responsibility, and if I’d just—” His hands fisted at his sides “They have her underground, Benedict”

“I know,” I said softly

“She was locked up for years at that boarding school, and now she can’t even see the stars,” he whispered

“We’ll get her back,” I promised

“Yeah, ill,” he agreed, his eyes turning even colder than usual “And then I’ht without another word, heading toward the woods that surrounded the manor

I rubbed the back of my neck and went in the opposite direction, toward Jocelyn Magic wrapped around her like a lover as I came up behind her—quietly, so I didn’t fuck up her spell

“Stop tip-toeing back there I knew the second you stepped out of the house,” she said, her eyes trained on the map before her