by Karen Chance
Marco’s big chest rose and lowered in a sigh. “Well, as I understand it, you showed up to your coronation naked, rolled around in some mud, dusted a dragon and then made out with the mage. Nobody really knows what happened, but it impressed the shit out of the senates. They signed the alliance early this morning.”
“Okay.”
“Also, they caught that thing that attacked you. You know, the Morrigan?”
“Uh-huh.”
“She claims she was forced into it because the Green Fey invaded and kidnapped her husband. Guess they’re working for the bad guys now, only nobody seems to really know. Anyway, she said she’s willing to let bygones be bygones if we help her get him back.”
“How generous.”
“Yeah. That’s what I said. But that Marsden guy is considering taking her up on the offer.”
I tilted my head to stare up at him. “Why?”
“He was here all morning, reading your dad’s letters. It turns out that that spell everybody’s been worried about—the one that keeps the so-called gods out of here?”
“The ouroboros?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. Looks like it wasn’t linked to you at all. Even if that Spartoi had killed you, it wouldn’t have done any good.”
“But something is keeping it active. And if my mother isn’t here—”
“I didn’t understand everything the old man said,” Marco told me. “But it seems she did something to merge her soul with your dad’s before she passed on—as insurance, you know?”
I sat up and turned to look at him. “But he died with her.”
“Yeah, but his soul stayed here.”
It took me a moment to get it. “Because Tony trapped it in his damned paperweight.”
“Yeah. And it’s still here. Or in Faerie, somewhere on this side of the spell. Anyway, Marsden figures we got to find the fat little weasel before he figures out what he’s got, and if he’s in Faerie, we’re gonna need help.”
I nodded slowly, but I wasn’t thinking about Tony. I just sat there for a moment, a couple of dozen emotions washing through me. But the one I finally settled on was pride—fierce and glowing.
She must have known they would never stop coming for her, had to realize they would find her, sooner or later. She was weak, possibly dying, because I couldn’t see her going to the Pythian Court in less than dire need, not knowing what stalked her. She’d had almost no one she could trust, for even at court there were those like Myra who would have sold her out. But still, she’d found a way. She’d found a way and beaten them all.
I wiped my eyes, got up and started going through my dresser.
“So Marsden said he needs to know if you got any ideas where to start looking for the paperweight,” Marco told me. “And there’s a lot more stuff in your dad’s letters he wants to talk over with you. Plus, Pritkin hasn’t checked in and he keeps asking if I’ve seen him. I told him what I could, but it wasn’t—”
I looked up. “What did you tell him?”
“That he came through here last night, covered in blood and ranting like a madman. He demanded to see you, and when I told him we thought you’d gone to the coronation, he cursed at me, ran for the balcony and threw himself into a ley line. That’s the last any of us saw of him.”
I thought I could fill in the rest. Niall had left Pritkin for dead, but he hadn’t counted on his demon blood—or his sheer stubbornness. Pritkin’s body had healed enough for him to swim back to consciousness, to realize that the necklace was gone and to understand what that meant. He’d come here looking for me, probably to warn me not to shift, but I was already gone. So he’d gone after me.
He’d gone after me and he’d saved me. He’d said he’d rather die than go back there, into slavery, into his father’s tender care. But he’d saved me anyway.
Like Mom, he’d found a way.
I grabbed a tank top and a pair of shorts and went to the bathroom.
“That was a couple of minutes before the master popped back in,” Marco said. “Only without you. Things got a little crazy after that, because nobody knew where you’d ended up. And we couldn’t reach the house by phone and we couldn’t even contact anybody mentally ’cause they were all in that portal thing. But nobody’d seen you here, so we finally went out there, only to find we’d missed all the excitement.”
I ran a comb through my hair and didn’t comment.
“The master wanted to keep you at the estate, but Marsden threw a fit, so they compromised and we brought you back here,” Marco continued. “The master’ll be back as soon as he can shake the senators, and Marsden said he’ll be checking in tonight. But he wanted to know if you have any idea where Pritkin is.”
“Yes.” I scrubbed my face and started to get dressed. Pritkin’s little talisman bumped my skin as I pulled off the pajama top. I put a hand on it, squeezing hard, and something greasy leaked through the material and onto my palm. I didn’t wash it off.
There was no question where he was, but Jonas couldn’t help him. As soon as he’d exchanged energy with me, the thing that called itself his father had jerked him back, “revoking his parole,” as Pritkin had put it. And I didn’t think it was going to be easy to pry him loose. I wasn’t sure it would even be possible. I didn’t understand much about the demon realms, didn’t know what, if anything, could be done.
But I knew who to ask.
“By the way, your dress arrived,” Marco told me.
“What dress?”
“For the coronation.”
I stuck my head out the door. “We already had that.”
“No, you had a mud bath. Seems they want to do it over, do it right, this coming Saturday—”
“No.”
“It’s gonna be here, instead of at the estate—”
“No.”
“It’s a nice dress.”
I pulled on the shorts and came out. Marco was standing by something that was a little better than “a nice dress.” It was a delicate, shimmering piece of art. A few crystalline lines sketched out the form here and there, like the ones connecting stars in a constellation. They delineated the soft drape of the skirt, the low-cut back, the plunging neckline. And between those was . . . nothing. Or, at least, what was there wasn’t cloth.
It was completely transparent, with a faint tinge of teal, like a dress made out of ice or glass—or the light that glimmered along fiber-optic filaments one minute and was gone the next. It was suspended a few feet off the floor and was slowly rotating, shedding softly glowing particles as it went. They lingered for a moment after the dress had turned, like a train of stars, before they disappeared.
I’d have been a little worried about the transparency thing if I didn’t think Augustine had done some sort of trick, like with Francoise’s ribbon. And if I hadn’t already gone full monty in front of most of the leaders of the magical world. And if I planned to wear it.
“It’s beautiful,” I said honestly, and Marco sighed.
“You ain’t coming, are you?”
“Let my double do it. She’s probably better at these kinds of things anyway.”
“And what are you going to do?” he asked, watching with disapproval as I shoved my feet into a pair of old sneakers.
“Raise some Hel,” I told him. And shifted.
TOUCH THE DARK
by Karen Chance
Can you ever really trust a vampire?
Cassandra Palmer can see the future and communicate with spirits—talents that make her attractive to the dead and the undead. The ghosts of the dead aren’t usually dangerous; they just like to talk…a lot.
The undead are another matter.
Like any sensible girl, Cassie tries to avoid vampires. But when the bloodsucking mafioso she escaped three years ago finds Cassie again with vengeance on his mind, she’s forced to turn to the vampire Senate for protection.
The undead senators won’t help her for nothing, and Cassie finds herself working with one of their most powerful membe
rs, a dangerously seductive master vampire—and the price he demands may be more than Cassie is willing to pay...
Available wherever books are sold or at penguin.com
S0189
CLAIMED BY SHADOW
by Karen Chance
Clairvoyant Cassie Plamer has inherited new magical powers—including the ability to travel through time. But it’s a whole lot of responsibility she’d rather not have. Now she’s the most popular girl in town, as an assortment of vamps, fey, and mages try to convince, force, or seduce her—and her magic—over to their side. But one particular master vampire didn’t ask what Cassie wanted before putting a claim on her. He had a spell cast that binds her to him, and now she doesn’t know if what she feels for him is real—or imagined...
“An engaging heroine.”
—New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong
Available wherever books are sold or at penguin.com
S0190
FROM NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR
Karen Chance
EMBRACE THE NIGHT
Cassandra Palmer may be the world’s chief clairvoyant, but she’s still magically bound to a master vampire. Only an ancient book called the Codex Merlini possesses the incantation to free Cassie—but harnessing its limitless power could endanger the world...
CURSE THE DAWN
Most of the supernatural power players don’t want the independent minded Cassandra Palmer as chief clairvoyant—and they’ll stop at nothing to see her six feet under.
The Vampire Senate supports Cassie but their protection comes with a price. And even the vampires will have trouble keeping Cassie alive now that the self-styled god Apollo, the source of the Pythia’s power, has it in for her in a big way. To save her life—and the world—Cassie’s going to have to face down her creator…
Available wherever books are sold or at penguin.com
R0006
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR
Karen Chance
MIDNIGHT’S
DAUGHTER
Dorina Basarab is a dhampir—half-human, half-vampire. Unlike most dhampirs, though, Dory has managed to maintain her sanity. Now Dory’s vampire father has come to her for help—again. Her Uncle Dracula (yes, the Dracula), cruelest among vampires, has escaped his prison. And her father wants Dory to work with gorgeous master vampire Louis-Cesare to put him back there.
Although Dory prefers to work alone, Dracula is the only thing that truly scares her—and when she has to face him, she’ll take all the help she can get…
“Karen Chance will enthrall you.”
—USA Today bestselling author Rebecca York
Available wherever books are sold or at penguin.com
R0005
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR
Karen Chance
DEATH’S MISTRESS
A Midnight’s Daughter Novel
Dorina Basarab is a dhampir—half-human, half-vampire. Back home in Brooklyn after the demise of her insane Uncle Dracula, Dory’s hoping her life is about to calm down. But soon Dory realizes someone is killing vampire Senate members, and if she can’t stop the murderer, her friends may be next...
Available wherever books are sold or at penguin.com
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BOOKS BY KAREN CHANCE
THE CASSIE PALMER SERIES
Touch the Dark
Claimed by Shadow
Embrace the Night
Curse the Dawn
THE MIDNIGHT’S DAUGHTER SERIES
Midnight’s Daughter Death’s Mistress
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chapter Thirty-nine
Chapter Forty
Epilogue
TOUCH THE DARK
CLAIMED BY SHADOW
FROM NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR
