My, my, Chloe murmured, studying the chocolate she held. I do believe this one’s gone off. It stinks like a cesspit. Her eyes lifted. Oh, wait. It’s only the guttersnipe.Or perhaps it’s your perfume,...
Kit opened his eyes.?The voice was high and thin and directly by his left ear-also the location of the blade pressed up hard against his jawline.Where is she? the voice demanded again, whispery words...
I’m spending until dawn with you, I said firmly. Don’t bother to argue.God forbid, said Jesse, solemn.I pushed past him into the cottage. He’d been waiting up for me, I could tell. There was a book sp...
I want you in the sky, and against the earth. I want to kiss you again, I want to touch you, I want to feel you in my arms and I want to hear you gasping my name when I'm inside you. I want all that,...
I didn’t think students were allowed below the main floor. I knew the kitchens were there, as were most of the servants’ quarters; the professors and Mrs. Westcliffe had their own aboveground wing on...
Hullo, he said sleepily, rubbing a hand along his jaw.I came to life. Get out!He yawned, a lazy yawn, a yawn that clearly indicated he had no intention of leaving. In the moody gray light his body see...
How long have you known about him? I asked Jesse, using my free hand to gesture toward his guest.Forever. Nearly as long as I did about you.God, Jesse. Why didn’t you say anything?He was a shadow of y...
Bundled in my shawl and uniform, I might have been partaking in any one of Mrs. Westcliffe’s permitted after-supper al fresco activities, like:Strolling to the edge of the rose garden to admire the su...
Armand towed me up and Jesse hustled me away. I staggered against him, looking past his shoulder just in time to see my nightgown dance over the rim of the roof, a twirling, empty ballerina blowing aw...
Armand needs to see you. He’s had all this time to think things through. He’ll have questions. He’d rather go to you with them than to me.I hardly have answers.Then guess.I huffed a laugh. Are you ser...
Are the family lists complete yet? he asked George.Aye, my lord. We've gathered the names of every possible successful runner for the last forty years. Not many men, I'll tell you that. Six at most, a...
You called me, I whispered.And you came, Jesse Holms answered, a green-eyed glance back at me, a half smile that dissolved my bones. Then we were moving hand in hand down the rotting plank stairs.
What is what? asked Armand. I don’t hear anything.I hadn’t taken my eyes from Jesse. There’s more than one. Two at least, right?Two, he said. I hear two.Armand stood. Two I sent him a look. Zeppelins....
Tender creatures, these aristocrats. Who would have guessed?
It wasn't only you, Lord Langford. It was this place, these people. This life. I want nothing to do with it.It's a bit late for that, Rue. Whether you like it or not, we are your blood. my blood.Aye,...
I would have done anything. Don’t you know that? No.
I think the word is much too small to encompass the magnitude of all it defines. For me, right then, meant that everything within me-my organs, my spirit, my hope-plunged down into a place of utter...
They fire lots of bullets very, very quickly. Quicker than anything else.I looked up and around the bedroom, the mismatched furniture, the weirdly firm light. Why? What could you hunt with those? What...
Sun's down, muttered one of the guardsmen by the windows.Then it's time. Grady made to push away from the table, and the rest began to follow.No, said Kit.Grady paused with his palm pressed flat again...
Perhaps it was the silken dress on my body or the golden roses at my shoulder, but I had determined that I was going to be the most perfect, delightful charity student the duke had ever encountered. I...