“Solange and all her irritating brothers could get themselves killed without me. I deserved to be part of their clandestine plans. I'd earned it. And I was sure they'd need a human touch at some point. And if they asked Hunter to help instead of me, I'd stake every last one of them myself.Mom says jealousy is unattractive.So's a broken nose.I'm just saying.”

“Don’t you read?” I asked Nicholas, disgusted. “If you leave me here now that you’ve got Solange all safe, they’ll grab me to get to her.” Solange opened the back door and I leaped in. The car sped off . Shadows flitted beside us, menacing, hungry. I shivered. Then I smacked the back of Nicholas’s head. “Idiot.”

“Solange leaned back against the wall, bored. “Are you done yet?”“Hell no,” Lucy said. She’d left nose prints on the glass. Nicholas smirked up at her. She blushed. “Ooops. Busted.”“I told you they could hear your heartbeat,” Solange said.“Even from up here.”“I can’t help it. Even if they all know they’re pretty and are insufferably arrogant,” she added louder. “Can they hear that?”“Yes.”“Good.” She glanced at me. “Yummy, right?”“I’m sure Isabeau would rather recover, not ogle my brothers,”Solange said. “You remember how stressed you were after the Hypnos?”“Please,” Lucy scoffed. “This is totally soothing.”

“Can I give you a word of advice?" Lucy asked."I suppose so.""You have a great French accent. If a guy asks you to wear a French maid's costume, kick him in the shin.""Especially if it's one of my brothers" Solange agreed.”

“I closed my eyes, wondering why it was no effort at all to call up the exact shade of his dark eyes, hostile as they were. I should be thinking about the bounty on our heads, not whether or not I’d get to see him again. Because of course I’d get to see him again; he’d probably try and stake one of my brothers, if not me. Hardly a promising start to a relationship.Relationship?What the hell was I thinking?No doubt my impending birthday was making my head fuzzy. There was no other explanation. I just needed more sleep.”

“Very possibly this was the night my white-knight complex, as Solange put it, would get me killed. Someone had better write a poem about it. It was only fair.”

“I knew damn well if Lucy broke up with me I'd still love her until I turned to dust.”