eline

y chest like a

an

rm a polite, detached smile, tho

e to meet you,"

lchair, her sharp eyes scanni

d a dismis

he Commission. There is no real affection here," she said

er, his voice entir

makes you mine in the eyes

the cold familiar

world of blood and power t

d his attenti

tterfly to a specimen board; even the trembling of m

to anyone else over

caught in

intense stare, unable t

I lied smoothly. "But I

ruptly that the friction of his knuckles made a faint, sharp s

ing a quiet farewell, and rol

opened the heavy

tside the venue, a torrentia

ain soaked my

flag down a cab, but the rain-slic

pulled up to the curb, splash

door sw

completely ignoring the bodyguards

t i

ad. "I can fi

from the back seat

offer, Evangeline. Yo

not wait f

ffortlessly lifted

d my waist and under my knees, leavi

lothes, sending a treacherous sho

onto the plush lea

folded my chair and

ng the scent of rain and expensiv

tem was playing a h

ard, yet the chord progressi

your address,"

eized m

g safehouse in a riv

uly lived, he would know

ss of a heavily guarded, we

orhood I had grown up in b

a drink from the car

you must send us ticket

streaked window, swall

wil

up to the massive iron gat

losely as the driver

aved driveway to the fron

wood, pretending to c

until Killian's convoy fina

ights disappeared, my te

ering viol

k to the main road a

izing minutes to r

, smelling foully of ga

dbolt to my tiny,

as an absol

s sitting on the flo

to a pile of black-market designe

e fabric covered t

as a torn, e

culously saved for our grocer

and locked the d

r. I simply did not

to the edge of my

der the hem of my

the heavy le

nizing metal prosthetics

ully on the floor and buried

lently in

ed in entirely diff

r, my cheap bur

blocked

p voice on the other end unmistakab

union dinner tonight at eight. A ca

far more terrifying threat than any screamed curse. He was calling t