”Henry shook his head, “James is the only one to benefit and from the looks between him and Ali, I would say he would rather wait.”I grinned, �...Ali and James do seem to enjoy being out of the line of fire.”Henry nodded, “That leaves money or revenge.”I nodded, “Either someone will make a lot of money or the duke has cost someone powerful a lot of money.”Henry nodded, “Or it’s the Temple or Shermerez.”I shook my head, “Shermerez is in enough trouble. Besides losing half their country to Deliqure. His fingers and toes were bent and unmoving. However, he couldn't slip into the darkness of oblivion; it refused to come to his bidding."Maybe I really am 'The Deathless One'," Nick moaned.Two days ago, the poison had arisen as expected. Elena had just returned from a shopping trip to Paris with the three girls, seven, five, and two. They had gotten into an argument over the bills. Elena was spending far too much, more than Nick could make in a short period of time. Elena would hear nothing of. Both in terms of progress and collateral damage.He had discovered that to make an illusion real, you had to really know it, to know every single thing about it, to almost be it yourself. After his initial and most wonderous success with Elle he had scaled down his project, trying something much simpler, an all black kitten that, at present, was curled up in a ball on the corner of his desk inside a small box, still, unfortunately, illusionary. He had tried without success to replicate the first. I shiver and let out a little gasp, proving that I was simply pretending to be asleep.Why had I been pretending, again? I can't remember, but it seems like it had been important. The kisses across my neck and shoulder aren't exactly conducive to logical thought, though. Neither is the hand that is running gently down my side, fingertips brushing the underside of my breast before continuing down to my hip. I give up on remembering. I have more important things to attend to.I wriggle around to.