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Silviu’s tone turned serious.What is this I’ve been hearing about you courting a baron’s daughter?

Ilie clucked his tongue.You’ve turned into a gossip, Your Grace. How frighteningly disappointing.

Ah. It’s serious then, if you’re unwilling to give me a straight answer.

And so he was,Ilie thought. But the reason behind it eluded him. Silviu was his brother by choice, his friend, and the leader he had sworn on his life to serve and protect. The duke would have welcomed the news that Ilie had found his heartkeeper—-

His lips twisted.

Again.

They went on to discuss Ilie’s undercover mission in Asphodel, which was to flush out the traitor in their midst. The same person, he believed, who was responsible for the setup that almost had killed an entire squad of enforcers – includingLes Trois Belles Lames.

After, Silviu said finally,George says hi.

I will contact you with any updates, Your Grace.The connection between them faded. The pain from the wound over his heart eased, but the agony inside his body had flamed back to life.

George says hi.

He laughed humorlessly.

Poor Silviu. The Duke of Brimstone was possessive, as all demons were, almost selfishly so, but his angelic half forbade him to give in to the greedy need to cage his heartkeeper away. Instead, it forced the duke to be fair and sensitive to those around them—-

Even if it meant allowing communication between the other man who held a key to his woman’s heart.

George says hi.

An image started to form, but he savagely ripped it into pieces before the image could complete itself. He did not want to think of things that could never be his – and never was. The Duke of Brimstone had found her first, and he knew, deep inside, that given the choice, she would still choose the duke.

Even if Ilie had found her first, he had a feeling her choice would not have changed.

George says hi.

His jaw clenched.

This would be the last time he’d think of Georgina McCartney as anyone but the duke’s heartkeeper. From here on, he would concentrate on what – who – he had. He would concentrate on the person he was sure truly wanted him.

“I’M AFRAID YOUR TIME’Sfast running out, Lady Soleil.” Crystal, her former adviser, was never one to waste words, but surely, Soleil thought numbly, she could have done a little better than that?

She collapsed on the couch in Crystal’s office. She had thought the urgency had to do with her work either as an enforcer or a trainer in ANEX, and she wanted to kick herself in the head for it. How cocky she had been to not even consider the possibility that the urgent message could have something to do with her condition.

Swallowing, she forced herself to ask between bloodless lips, “Why the sudden diagnosis?”

“I’ve had a breakthrough last night studying the curse in your system,” Crystal told her. “And we have good and bad news.”

“Bad first,” she said automatically.

Crystal cracked a grin. “You always were a pessimistic little girl.”

She hadn’t been for years, actually, but Crystal’s announcement might have Soleil going back to her old, dark ways.

“The bad news is that the curse has been fashioned after an aneurysm. This means it can be triggered by just about anything, and it’s designed in such a way that we’ll never know until it’s too late. There are no symptoms to know when, where, or how it will happen. It will just happen, and if we don’t take the necessary steps to get rid of it, you will die.”

Soleil clasped and unclasped her fingers on her lap. “I see. It sounds improbable...”

“I know.” Crystal’s voice became harsh. “But nevertheless, it’s true. Virtually anything is possible for otherworlders, Soleil. It’s just a matter of who’s powerful enough to execute what they want.”

Soleil swallowed her arguments. She had never been blindly hateful of otherworlders, something that she knew Crystal found disappointing. But she didn’t blame Crystal for it either, knowing that the older woman’s bitterness stemmed from having her son killed by an archdemon.