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was a little girl. "You're too good to be in a place like this."

Grinning shyly, Cassie said, "No, I don't think so. After all, I'm here for the same reason you are," Cassie replied, hoping that Miriam was too distracted to notice that she took something.

Miriam looked up at her, confused. "And what's that?"

"They have really good food."

Miriam laughed. Shaking her head, she said, "You're a rare breed." Gathering the sewing box, Miriam tossed her things back inside and hurried out the door to the next girl.

Normally, Miriam would have been assigned one girl per night during the Pairing, but with the way they changed things, she was a distracted, frantic mess. Nothing was perfect and Miriam had been fretting since she found out about the changes that morning.

Cassie watched her disappear through the door, and then looked down at her scantily clad body and wondered where to hide the stolen scissors.

Chapter 26

Will sat between Kahli and Reggie, his eyes darting between them as they spoke. "Don't go this way," Kahli hissed at Reggie, practically crawling over Will to make a grab for the steering wheel.

Reggie swatted at her hands. When they hit a patch of ice, the back of the truck slid and hit a bump, knocking Kahli back into her seat. Reggie fumed, "I'll go the way I please, you deranged lunatic!" Glancing at William, he added, "Please restrain that beast or I'll stop the truck and throw her in the box in the back!"

Will ignored Reggie, but yanked Kahli down when she tried to reach past him again. "I'd like to get there without a tree in my head, Kahli."

She huffed and sat down, "He's taking us to the front of the palace! They'll shoot us and ask questions later."

"Shows what you know," Reggie hissed at her, glancing briefly before narrowing his gaze on the road again. "Which is nothing, by the way. The Queen has scouts on this road. She'll know we're coming long before we get there. And with the insane way Sophia was acting yesterday, she'll wait to kill me until she sees why I came back. Then I offer up the two of you, and I'm her favorite sibling again."

"You're her only sibling," Kahli muttered, folding her arms over her chest and slumping back into the seat. Her gaze cut to Will. He wasn't acting like himself, but then neither was she. Somehow, they had to get out of the truck.

Reggie grunted, but Will cut him off before he could say anything else, and asked, "What's the plan after you get inside? Are you just going to walk straight up to her and stab her?" His dark brow creased as he looked over at the vampire.

Reggie shrugged, "Sounds good to me."

"No it doesn't," Will sighed loudly and shook his head. "If she's expecting an attack, she'll be ready."

Reggie lifted a tapered finger from the steering wheel, and formally announced, "Ah, yes, but I've had more of that creature's blood. I should be stronger, by far."

"Should be," Will said firmly. "I wouldn't base my life on a guess."

"It's not a guess. Kahli told me how many times she was called for tastings, and I know my hideous sister couldn't manage to swallow more than a drop at a time. I did the math, William. I know that I've had more than her." Reggie spoke with the regal authority of an aristocrat.

"So, you're willing to bet your life on that?" Will asked.

"It's not a bet. It's a fact."

"Then let me ask you this - did you ever stop to think why you managed to swallow Kahli's blood, but the Queen, the strongest vampire in the world, couldn't?" Will's question jolted Reggie. His foot lifted from the accelerator as a dazed expression came across his face. The truck began to drift off the road. The pitch of the shoulders on the road were so slanted from snow and ice that hitting it would be like hitting a wall.

"Steer!" Kahli screamed and reached for the steering wheel again, throwing her body across Will's to grab at it.

Reggie snapped to life, and jerked the truck back before it hit. Will wrapped his fingers around Kahli's waist and set her back in her seat. She frowned at him. "So, it's okay if he crashes us?"

"No. I prefer to get there in one piece. It's been a while since I was able to go anywhere without getting covered in blood." Will smirked as he said it. Kahli's eyes slide