The Devil's Last Wife

dy m

the toes of Elowen's boots. Somewhere above he

ifference, lust, even boredom, and she had prepared an answer for each. She had not

d. "My grandmother calls it a Marrow weakne

ise like a man s

ok away from her face. "T

lo

e with a letter for Odalys Marrow sayi

t twenty-five ye

seemed to hear. Slowly, as though turning hi

nths and twenty-nine days from now. Your Rite needs a Marrow bride's blood, freely given, in the year the window is open. If you send me home, the Marrows

you about

e. I am one of the few people

ow archive had been dusty and silent, an

one studies a locked door. Then he turned a

ll of A

vil kept his throne, and where,

fts against the walls. The throne at the far end was a single piece of fused blac

ailed ten respectful paces behind her, looking like a

the throne when s

drifting aside in a thin hush, as if she walked inside a bell of clear air. When sh

, Lucan had g

ng," he sa

pposed to

ixed on the ash. "It

aid, very quietly an

ter. She could manage only so many frighteni

angry,"

asant. "I am deciding whether it would be mor

our Rite. Blood giv

s of making pe

he reached into her bodi

a thread of dark liquid moved, rising and falling in time

his sword. Lucan did not move, but the ash ove

e glass breaks, and whatever is inside spoils Marrow blood. Mine, certai

gled sound that mig

wn death as a thr

it as an

evil

that she could see the grey in his eyes, the ash caught in his lashes, the tiredness beneath the cruelty that no one

w what I am

who nee

t was a tired, careful calculation, like a man examini

r terms,"

e would not see how long she

Three. A garden, with whatever soil you have." She counted on her fingers. "Four. No one touches me without askin

ry long list

ist for a woman who i

ld stop them. Dorian looked at th

," he said. "Most of what it ho

ll read

What does a Mar

er

said t

n bli

ht boot." His eyes dropped, briefly, to her ribs. "And one against your heart

cou

ything that m

inous way, the way a good chess opponent thrills a player who

stand each oth

ill. "Your terms are accepted. The wedding is tomorrow at dusk. Dorian will

n't drea

t all warmth. "The Marrows have always sent me a face I could b

face

sto

l held its breath. The ash hung

ion I answer

a gift, and filed it away with the nine poisons

then," she said. "The eas

N

answer. It sounded like a door slamming. Dorian

a living, understood two things at once. The east wing was the place where Ashfall kept everyt

eneath the palace, very fai

t and deliberate, as if someone had be

oward the sound. Just

without looking at