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suffer a lingering sting.
    But another’s skin against hers was like fire. . . .
    She gazed around the spartan room. Considering the still unpacked duffel bag and sparse furnishings —a lounge chair, a desk, and the mattress—this definitely wasn’t a permanent home. Danii knew the Forbearers lived in the sinister Mount Oblak castle. So what was he doing here?
    Over the drone of the air conditioner, she heard the shower going. The vampire hadn ’t left her? She recalled the injuries he’d sustained taking out eight of those Icere bastards, remembering that he’d been hurt much worse than she’d initially thought. She didn’t know how he’d still been standing, much less how he’d cared for her.
    If not for him, she would have died. The poison would have taken hold until even her immortality couldn ’t have saved her. He had saved her.
    She grinned. No longer did she think him skeevy.
    When blood had been everywhere and Danii helpless before him, Murdoch hadn’t even tried to drink from her. And Valkyrie blood was supposed to be irresistible to vampires. Myst had confided to Danii that she’d given a drop to Nikolai the Overlord five years ago, and he’d been wild for it.
    Oh, Myst . . . What should Danii do about her sister’s abduction? Myst, who’d once done her a favor so great that she could never repay it.
    The answer seemed obvious. Call Nïx and tell her to launch a search and a war if need be. Murdoch had a satellite phone on his desk.
    But earlier, he’d said he could take Danii to her sister—because Myst would be with Nikolai. So the two of them were together.
    Likely only the two of them. Making up for lost time.
    If Danii called the coven about this, she’d unleash a shrieking battle contingent to bust down the door of the vampire’s love nest.
    What would her sister want her to do? The facts: Myst was a master manipulator and enchantress. No Valkyrie was better at getting men to do her bidding. She could handle Nikolai.
    Another fact: At the news that Forbearer vamps had been spotted in the city, Myst had been excited, her green eyes alight.
    Before setting out to hunt them, she’d checked and rechecked her hair.

    Myst, it seemed, was already half in love with Nikolai. And if Nikolai was a fraction as thoughtful and gentle as his brother . . .
    I’ll get more information from Murdoch before I make a move .
    With that decided, Danii rose from the mattress on the floor — typical vampire, craving to sleep as low to the ground as possible— and crossed to his closet.
    Contrary to popular belief, she wasn’t shy, but she still rooted through his duffel bag for something to wear. She and Murdoch had serious things to discuss, their siblings’ situation, for one, and she didn’t want to do it naked.
    Even if he would have no interest in her that way.
    She grabbed a black T-shirt and dragged it on, though it swallowed her, then explored his room. As she rummaged through his things, she found his wallet. She’d known who he was, but it was still a shock to see credit cards in the name of a warlord who’d
    “perished” in the Great Northern War three hundred years ago.
    Likewise, seeing his sword belt lying next to his satellite phone was a jolt.
    Danii knew much about him and his three brothers; most of the Lore did. The Valkyrie had had a correspondent in the field to cover the war, and she’d reported back on all the Wroths’ heroic—and ruthless—deeds as they’d defended Estonia against the Russians. The four had been so merciless that even the creatures of the Lore had started paying attention.
    She recalled that the Wroths all differed drastically in personality. Nikolai was the self -sacrificing general, Sebastian the quiet warrior-scholar, Conrad the mysterious one.
    And Murdoch? Well, he was the ladies’ man, a practiced seducer.
    Or he had been, but no longer, now that he was an unblooded vampire. What a waste. The world just didn ’t have enough broad-shouldered seducers