the body, her tra

resonance with the spirit, or at

as...

gloves, over Julian' s chest, feeling for

th

ng to start a fi

he Jake she knew, his easy

fe end here, like this, i

deception warred wi

ubtle shift in the room's atmospher

ways

wa

il

ion gnaw

lars on the line, and t

y constructed professional i

suspicion, deeper than

e birth chart, the scene i

tally, terribly wrong

ame again, lou

e is getting impatient,

as still polite, bu

a power play, a reminder that they knew mo

er spine, a feeling of

er attention fixed

sure o

ceptible rise and fa

ssed it,

trick of the light, her

do strange thin

seen it

s different

, her masked face

r of the room, but faintly warmer, ca

rp now, the politeness gone. "Open th

r clicked, a mechan

lock, of

man to be kept waitin

e escalating dem

traditional tool of her family, not for acupunctu

the silver would

n Julian's wrist, near the birth

breath, watch

d bright,

eact

h me

as a

ne, her Jak

exhilaration shot through he

? W

re she could even think of what t