LITMIR.BIZ

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your brother—'

      `Yes, I know we buried him three months ago.' Anger fuelled his sarcasm. `I was at his funeral. Good job protecting him, by the way. Go! I'll see you tomorrow.'

      `You can't spend the night with a girl we know nothing about. Your father would be furious.'

      `He'd be furious, too, if he knew some of the things you'd done while on duty, but I won't tell if you don't.'

      Jack frowned. `Ike can have the night off. I'll be at my place with my phone turned on. Be careful, Max.'

      The men retreated through the garden, towards the car park on the other side of the estate.

      Max flexed clammy hands. Had they ruined his chance? At least she was still here. `I almost choked when you drew your sword. Jack thought it was real!'

      `Naturally. Only imbeciles carry a fake or walk the streets unarmed.'

      `Oh, I get it — you're pretending to be your costume character. Sweet. So you're a friend of Darryn's?' He gestured towards the party lights.

      `Is he important?'

      `Only because his parents are paying for the caterers. Did you gatecrash with friends or—'

      `You invited me to your home. Do you have sustenance? Will I be able to rest there?'

      She was still keen on his place? He hadn't died, but he'd still gone to heaven. `Yes. Food, rest. Can do.'

      `Then lead me to your abode.'

      He forced himself to move. Other than Emma, he'd never been interested in girls before, mainly because they were more interested in his money than he was. But he felt a connection to this Goth Angel. She emanated purpose, from the regal tilt of her head to the scuffed toes of her boots, and he craved to know her better. He might even find out how she had leapt and broken his fall. Maybe she was a high jump pro. Maybe she had a gold card to the gym. Whatever her secrets, he was ready to discover them.

      Chapter Two

      Tension threaded through her muscles as she shadowed the lean boy-man away from the mansion, sidestepping a gold-speckled toad in her path.

      `It's summer.' His amber voice soothed her shot nerves. `Cane toads are all over the place.'

      `Are they edible?'

      `Heck, no. They're poisonous.'

      `That is disappointing.' Hunger gnawed at her insides.

      `Do you like frog's legs?'

      Just the legs? She was hungry. She would eat the whole thing at the moment! `Are the legs your specialty?'

      `Mine? I can't cook to save myself.'

      His distinctive scent, mingled with the tang of unfamiliar plants, stirred her hunger. It was more than she expected from this slight boy-man with unkempt chestnut hair. She bit her lip. He lacked a warrior's muscular build or a magician's runic hand, but the quality fabric and cut of his garments implied wealth. If he were the son of a nobleman, he could prove useful. If only...

      She faltered as another spasm of hunger hit.

      His heart tempted her with its thick, rich scent and strong, thudding beats. Not since Jada had she felt a response so raw and primeval. This Earthern was nothing like her betrothed but in a handful of minutes he had rekindled the darker cravings she had struggled to repress.

      `Are you okay? You look ill.' His warm breath skated across her neck.

      Trust no one. Find the Elnara. `I will regain my strength once we have eaten at your abode.'

      `Sure, it's this way.'

      As she passed through the break in a tall, stone wall, she gasped at the thousands of lanterns stretching out across the fields and valleys below. So this was Earth. She had never seen so many lights! How could one city spare the expense? How did they acquire the fuel? `What are all those lanterns? Is tonight a festival?' The warm air suggested summer.

      `It's nothing special, only the city lights. Did you just move here? Wait `til they put all the Christmas ones up — it'll be spectacular in a few weeks.'

      City lights? The Twilight Keeper had gifted her mind with a handful of Earthern languages, including English, before she left for this world via the mists. But he had warned some words and phrases might have become out-dated during the past three hundred years since the last Gorian visited Earth. `These are not for a festival but merely your city's buildings lit up?'

      `Of course.'

      `But there are tens of thousands of them!'

      `This is Brisbane — we've two million people.'

      `So many!'

      `London and New York each have eight. Don't tell me you're from one of those tiny east European villages?'

      She closed her gaping mouth. Her city, the largest in all of Gorias, housed twelve thousand. `How do you protect so many? Is your city gated?'

      `Of course not! Oh, you're back in character again. Are you an actress or something, or do you study at uni?'

      Uni? One, single, a prefix? No, perhaps an Earthern abbreviation? Max's misconception that she was `in character', however, could help conceal her other-world origins. `How much further?' she asked.

      `Five minutes down the street. Come on!'

      She marvelled at the expanse of night sky above a city which sprawled unconfined by narrow streets and protective walls. Had predators infiltrated this place? Were they safe on this wide tree-lined street?

      `My name's Max, by the way.'

      `I am pleased to meet you, Max. I am…' She dared not whisper her birth name aloud. There was power in names and if the Earthern Taloners discovered she had arrived through the mists, they would hunt her down. No, she must remain incognito. Besides, she had been abandoned by her people. She was no longer the Princess Royal. She was a shahkara, a peasant in a foreign land. That was it! She smiled. `My name is Shahkara.'

      `Epic, sort of like the singer. Did you say you knew Darryn from uni or did you gatecrash the party?'

      `I did not say.' The paved footpath, ivory in the dwindling twilight, ran alongside a wide black-surfaced road. Oddly shaped, brightly-hued shelters inhabited the road, each supported by four wheels. Were they Earthern carriages or did they belong to food vendors? They lacked draft beasts, but the working animals were most likely stabled for the night. `What do you mean uni?'

      `You know — university.'

      Ah, a school of higher learning. `Yes,' she lied. May Danu forgive her. `I met Darryn at the university. I study there. At the uni.' She wondered how many words she would misunderstand simply because the people of this kingdom shortened them.

      `Sweet. A lot of my brother Ethan's friends went there.'

      `And you?'

      `No, I'm still in my final year but the whole uni deal just blows my brains.'

      Blows his brains? The only link she could find within her new vocabulary was an expression linked to explosives. Surely he did not mean to explode his brains, although he had already fallen from a balcony. `I assume you do not mean this literally.'

      He chuckled. `Still keeping in character? I like it, but I'm dying to know where you're really from.'

      Dying? She suspected that was not literal, either. `It is a secret.'

      `A secret, huh?' He stopped in front of a large building and leant against its stone-like wall. A teasing fire burnt in his eyes before awkwardness doused it. He glanced towards the building's entrance. `Here we are.'

      Brilliantly illuminated by lamps affixed to the external walls, the house was larger than a peasant's, but smaller than a nobleman's. Both moat and gate were noticeably absent. How did they prevent

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