Funny, it didn’t sound like a security blanket. It sounded like a threat. Her bright blue eyes were on

me, but I didn’t sense anything other than lazy contentment swimming through the windowless

room. The fire—there was always a fire in here—crackled companionably. The touch was quiescent

inside my skull, and I relaxed a little bit.

But if it hadn’t been Anna giving me the sense of danger before, then who? Or what? One of the

Council?

The traitor, maybe? Everyone seemed to be so sure it was Christophe. Except me, and maybe the

wulfen whose lives he’d saved. I was supposed to find out who wanted me dead here, but I wasn’t

having any luck.

Jesus, I wish Dad was here. “Anna.” I decided a frontal assault would be best, so to speak. “Can I

ask you something?”

“You just did.” She made another lazy, hand-waving gesture. “But go ahead, dear.”

What the hell are you playing at? But I chose something else instead. “Why do you hate

Christophe?”

She stiffened a little, eyelids dropping a fraction. The smile fell away, like a china plate dropping

from a wall hanging. “I don’t exactly hate him.”

“Then what is it?” I figured out she was keeping one eye on me and one eye on the door. Maybe she

was just as nervous about me as I was about her, and the bitch cheerleader vibe was her protective

coloration.

It was a sobering thought. Did that mean I’d made a snap judgment about her, the same thing I hated when people did it to me?

“Did he tell you?” One corner of her candy-gloss mouth turned down.

“He was kind of busy keeping us all alive. He didn’t mention you.” Beyond, Oh, Anna, spreading

her poison. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. And Dylan hadn’t seemed too happy to see her either. But I wasn’t going to tell her that. It would be a bad idea.

“Would it surprise you to know that Reynard was my first love?” Now her attention was all on me.

Weighing, watching, greedy little eyes. I tasted oranges and wax, but faintly. The fang marks in my

wrist tingled, itching. The irritation in them was getting more intense. “Yes? I see by your expression that it does surprise you. He’s a heartbreaker; it’s his one true gift. Along with treachery.” She

made a slight movement, settling herself more comfortably in the couch. “We were an item for quite

some time. A few years.”

I was surprised. I couldn’t even imagine the two of them in the same room together. Not without

feeling a little queasy. And why hadn’t Christophe told me this? “I don’t think—” I began. Was I actually going to defend Christophe to her?

“No, you don’t. Let me give you some sisterly advice, Dru. The next time you see Christophe, run.