essed into her hand without ceremony. Reinforced walls, no windows, furniture that looked comfortable enough to be

her than merely visit, and Elena wondered, not for the first time that night, how many other peopl

lena said, the moment the

e, for

et to decide

nt Adrian, the one from the parking lot, controlled and precise and entirely uninterested in negotiation. "This isn't about control, Elena. It's about

t a pri

usal to dress the truth up made it land harder than gentler words would have. "I'd rather y

he to you?

close enough to Isolde to know exactly how t

ne sentence and slamming the door

the room to the window, checking the street below out of habit rather than expectation. "I'm not trying to keep

ation than float along not knowing wh

omething like respect flickerin

h to argue further, a

lighting along the baseboards. Somewhere above them, an alarm began sounding through the building, and Adrian'

behi

s happ

inside th

to reach, and the figure that stepped out of it was not smoke and shadow this time. It was a man, ordinary looking, dressed

nce in a blur that ended with the intruder slammed again

rian said, and it

t Adrian, fixing on Elena with an attention that made her skin crawl. "She said to tell

for," Adrian said. "I'm no

didn't move off Elena

words that had just landed, the man dissolved, not fled, dissolved, black smoke pouring out of a shape that h

flickered back on, one by one, as though the

was shaking. "He

irst time since the funeral, she saw rea

. "He was nev

ng you owe her something? W

sed the corridor toward her, his hands finding her shoulders, steadying

the a

t three hundred years not having it. And whoever sent that man toni