FAZER LOGINSecret Guards and Other Ways to Ruin a Good BreakfastAnneI woke up with one knee trapped between Nathan's legs and one absurd certainty: he was still there.No note, no cold pillow, no convenient absence.Nathan was sleeping on his side, one arm around my waist and his hair flattened in a way that would have completely destroyed his reputation before the council.I stayed there looking at him and Nina woke up lazily.We're not alone.I can see that.He said we wouldn't wake up alone.My chest tightened.Yes.He had promised it for that morning and he was there, nothing more and nothing less.Nathan opened one eye."You're watching me.""I'm verifying contractual compliance.""Result?""Acceptable."The other eye opened."How romantic.""You'll survive."His mouth curved, then he remembered something and his hand tightened slightly around my waist."How are you?"The question carried too many things inside it.Last night, us, the mark we didn't seal, the sex we chose.The consequence
Making Love Without Asking the Moon for PermissionAnneNathan closed the door to his room and leaned against it.That was all.He didn't advance, didn't use shadows.He didn't do any of those absurdly seductive things enormous men seem capable of doing simply because the universe has favorites.He watched me and waited.I stood in the middle of his room with my heart pounding so hard that Nina started complaining.Can we breathe?I'm trying.It looks like you're trying to die elegantly, she said mockingly.Nathan took off his jacket.Only the jacket and my body reacted as if he'd committed a crime."You can still change your mind," he said calmly."So can you.""Yes.""Do you want to?" I asked and his gaze moved over my face before l
Diplomatic Risks and Indecently Ours DecisionsAnneThe decision came while I was closing the bakery.There was no dramatic music, enormous moon or sign from the universe. Only Nathan wiping down a table with far too much seriousness and me watching his hands like a woman with perfectly identified problems.I wanted to sleep with him.The certainty appeared simply.Not because the bond pulled, not because Nina was howling, not because the Registry had decided to push us in any direction. Because I trusted Nathan.That was much more terrifying.Nina lifted her head inside me.Finally.Don't start.I've spent weeks trying not to start.Nathan put down the cloth."You're staring at me," he said carefully."That happens when someone is standing in front of you
The Kind of Power I Actually Wanted Him to Give MeAnneNathan asked that no one accompany him to the fortress.I thought that meant he needed to be alone, but I was wrong.An hour later he returned to the bakery with Thalia, Maxwell and a folder so thick it looked capable of killing someone if thrown with enough intent."What is that?" I asked.Nathan placed the folder on a table."My declaration of control."I frowned."That sounds exactly like something you shouldn't say to me today."Thalia put a hand to her forehead."I told him the same thing," she said and Maxwell looked as though he'd swallowed a wasp."This is unnecessary.""Then I already like it," I replied.Nathan remained standing in front of me, Nina stretched inside me.That's different too.
Sin Can Be Inherited Too, but It Doesn't Have to Be ObeyedAnneSera's piece of jewelry arrived at the bakery inside a black box that Nathan opened with an expression far too serious for something so small.It was an antique brooch.Dull silver, a blue-gray stone and the image of a river engraved around the edge.The same song.The same river.My stomach decided to twist before my head could authorize it."Was it hers?"Nathan nodded."She wore it almost every day."Pippa leaned over the counter."It's pretty.""Very," I said.Nathan didn't touch the brooch.He had placed it on a clean cloth, beside a tray of freshly baked memory bread.After what had happened with my necklace, no antique piece of jewelry was going to touch my skin until Thalia had legally insulted its provenance.Nina sniffed from inside.It smells like him.Like Nathan?No. Like family.That made me more nervous.Thalia was in the back examining Garret's locator with a specialist. Elowen had arrived with coffee and
How to Hide a Leash Inside a Piece of JewelryAnneGarret appeared at ten seventeen in the morning, right when I was teaching Pippa how to tell powdered sugar from flour without putting either one in her mouth.Naturally, he chose that moment.Because men who ruin your life seem to develop a sixth sense for walking in when your hands are full.The bell over the door rang.I looked up.Garret stood in the middle of the bakery wearing a dark coat, his hair perfectly styled and that expression of a man convinced that the world still owed him an explanation.Nathan was beside the counter, reviewing a list of deliveries.He didn't move.That was the first thing I noticed.The second was that his shadows didn't either.Good.Very good.Nina bared her teeth.I can move.No.I could accidentally fall on him.No.Garret looked at Nathan.Then at me."I need to talk to you.""What an unpromising sentence.""In private.""I'm working."There were six customers, Bernard, two workers finishing she







