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a wheelchair, for God s sake!" She stopped, took in a deep breath of rage. "And now Dagmar tells me
that Knights and Hounds are failing to return from their patrols. Why have I not heard of this?"
"It s nothing."
"It isn t nothing!" She spun and glared at him. The desire to unleash her own power against him smote
her suddenly. The idea of seeing him squirm and beg appealed, as it had not in years. "After all this time,
someone has suddenly decided to challenge us! I have kept order in this city for more than thirty
years and now this! And you say that it s nothing?"
She stepped closer to him, cupped his inhuman chin in her hand. "It all began with that girl. She s behind
this somehow I can feel it, taste it. Find her and kill her, Roderick."
His eyes narrowed, as if he would challenge her. Then, suddenly, he bowed his head, turned, and
marched quickly out of the room.
Rhiannon went back to her window. The Knights and Hounds Roderick had sent to search for Duncan
had turned up nothing. No sign, no trace. It was as if he had been but a ghost, rising up briefly to
foretell...what?
She shivered suddenly. There was no certainty that it had been Duncan, of course. A part of her hoped
that it had not been him. How would it be to see him old, the mortal blood in him stealing years as fast as
in any human?
Alone, the Queen of Niune stood at her window and wondered.
~*~
It took Mina a long time to get to sleep, that last night in the lean-to. When she did, she half-expected her
dreams to be filled with nightmarish fear and doubt.
But instead, there was only Duncan.
Mina found herself in the theater, in the wings of the vast stage. An orchestra sat in the pit below, playing
the reel of a dance. Duncan stood on the stage, as if waiting for her.
She walked towards him, and his face lit up in a smile. "Dance, with me, Mina!" he cried, young and wild
as the dreams would make him.
Mina pointed to the red-haired beauty who stood to one side. Her devil s smile glittered below her
tangled hair, and her laugh was like breaking glass. "What about her?"
Duncan looked at Aerin and frowned. "She is nothing. Gone."
Aerin smiled. "The dark queen without mercy," she whispered.
Duncan made a swift gesture like a magician. Aerin wavered and vanished like a fever dream.
"See?" Duncan said. "Now will you dance with me?"
Mina went to him, felt his hand settle on her waist. He spun her into a waltz, laughing for the joy of it. She
laughed as well, and then tripped so that he had to keep her from falling. Their eyes met and held for a
moment. Then he bent down even as she reached up, and their lips met.
They kissed passionately, frantically exploring one another s mouths. Her hands tangled in his hair, and
she pressed her body hard against his. He wrapped his arms about her and bore her to the floor.
Clothing disappeared the way it sometimes did in dreams, and she arched her back, opening herself
Mina jerked awake. The thunderous rumble of a dray passed overhead, then faded as it crossed the
bridge. A few streets away, a muffin-seller began singing about fresh rolls and steaming bread. Factory
bells clanged far off, like ghosts dragging the chains of past lives. The city was waking with the dawn,
heedless of headaches or heartaches or dreams.
~*~
Duncan awoke suddenly, for no reason he could discern, his entire body in an agony of desire such that
he simply closed his eyes and frenziedly continued the fantasy, until his need was spent. Afterwards, he
lay quietly in the little cot Jeremiah had given him, his heart thundering in his ears.
He felt ashamed, as if he had betrayed Mina. Dreams were one thing who could control what their
sleeping minds invented? But deliberate fantasies about his young student crossed far over the line into
impropriety. His role as teacher gave him a certain authority over her, and he refused to take advantage
of that.
There was hollowness under his heart, a grief and a need that some days seemed to eat him out from
within, until there was nothing left but sorrow. Mornings had come when he would have sold his soul to
have someone by him when he woke.
Except that nebulous someone had somehow become Mina. He wasn t entirely certain how it had
happened he thought that he d long ago resigned himself to the fact that he would never again know a
woman s touch. Unless he resorted to paying for it a course of action that would be so humiliating that
he would rather fling himself in front of an omnibus.
He shouldn t have to remind himself that Mina was not only a student, but also a young woman less than
half his age who would be more inclined to see him as a father figure than a romantic prospect. But he
did, anyway.
Foolish old man, he berated himself in despair. Foolish, foolish.
It didn t help.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The next few weeks passed in a sort of peaceful rhythm for Mina. She and Abby moved into one of the
small rooms in the back of The Sailor s Widow. By day, they slept or practiced dancing with the other
girls. Mina spent the afternoon with Duncan in the little room behind the brewery. Then came the evening
and the acts. After her set, Mina met her pack in the park, and they all went hunting.
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