His Lordship Possessed
grabbed me, and dragged me
    from the bed, thrusting me behind him as he assessed the
    two men.
    “I thought magic didn’t work near me,” I whispered as
    I glanced over his shoulder.
    “Th ey’re not using it on you,” he muttered back. “And
    I have no power against Aramanthan-charmed icestone.”
    “You couldn’t have mentioned this earlier?” We were
    cornered, and the Talian and Montrose were coming
    round the bed after us. I thought of what the diseased
    little sod wanted to do to me and shuddered. “I’d like to
    be killed fi rst, if you wouldn’t mind.”
    “No one has to die,” Celestino said to Dredmore.
    “Zarath will see to it that you live for a very long time,
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    my lord.”
    Dredmore’s hand nearly crushed mine before he spoke
    to the Talian. “I will give you what you want, as soon as
    you release Miss Kittredge.”
    Montrose giggled. “Th at’ll be a snowday in Hades.”
    “She’s nothing but a stupid, nameless skirt,” Dredmore
    continued, making me want to kick him in a few sensitive
    places. “You don’t need her.”
    “True, but you seem to care for her, my lord.”
    Celestino fl ipped his dagger over his hand in a fl ashy,
    useless show of dexterity. “Cooperate with us, and I will
    spare her life.” He smirked. “Perhaps Zarath will choose
    to make her your body servant.”
    Dredmore turned his back on them and grabbed me
    by the arms, kissing me hard on the mouth before hauling
    me through an adjoining door, slamming it shut in the
    Talian’s face.
    I glanced round us but saw no other door or window
    to provide an avenue of escape. “Lucien, we cannot stay
    in here forever.” Indeed, the men on the other side of the
    door were hammering on it.
    “I know. I am about to be possessed by one of the
    Aramanthan, Charmian,” he said as he braced his
    shoulders against the door panel. “A Reaper warlord,
    who means to eat my spirit in order to own my body and
    use my power for his own purposes. I am too weakened
    by the drugs to fi ght him off , and he can control mortals
    the way I control the spiritborn. With my power added
    to his, no one will be able to resist him, not even you.”
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    LYNN VIEHL
    I saw the door shudder in its frame as someone on the
    other side bashed against it. “Lucien—”
    “Shut up. When they are fi nished, it will be on you to
    put an end to it.” His grip turned bruising. “Th is thing
    will occupy my fl esh, but my spirit will go where it can
    never touch me. I understand now. I will be where Harry
    has been, all this time. Now swear to me that you will
    kill it. Kill my body.” As I remained silent, he shouted it
    again. “Swear to me.”
    “Lucien.” I saw the terror in his eyes, and it shocked
    me into agreement. “I will. I swear it.” And then, because
    I simply couldn’t help myself, I said, “I love you.”
    Th e door gave way, thrusting Dredmore against me.
    I held him as long as I could, my throat too tight now to
    speak.
    “So touching.” Montrose looped the rope round
    Dredmore’s neck, dragging him back out of the way,
    and forced him to his knees. I started after them, but the
    Talian got hold of me again and marched me toward the
    door.
    Th e knife at my throat kept me from struggling. “I’d
    like to stay, if you don’t mind.”
    “We cannot have you in the room,” he told me.
    “Nothing can interfere when the warlord takes
    possession.”
    “What warlord?”
    “Zarath, like we said.” He grinned exactly as a child
    let loose in an unsupervised sweets shop would. “Do not
    worry. Soon you will come to know him very well.”
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    He guided me into the next room, the furnishings of
    which were oddly arranged in a half-circle facing the wall.
    I saw an unframed oval of glass, through which I

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