Dark Awakening Read Online Free PDF Page A

course, he was used to that. All Cait Sith were. All her praise notwithstanding, he had stopped being called, stopped being included. After all his efforts to prove himself over the centuries in her service, he could sense that Arsinöe had begun to push him out.
    And the Ptolemy courtiers, who seemed to have grown more bitter and vicious over the years he had spent among them, gloated openly at his departure. They cheered at the purge of the gutterblood who had somehow infiltrated their rarefied little club.
    He worried less about himself and more about what would become of his other blood brothers and sisters in his absence. Arsinöe had softened considerably over the years in her treatment of the Cait Sith she had conscripted, especially considering how dark things had been at the time of his own siring. But though the queen was strong, she was hardly immune to the views of the highbloods closest to her. And, gods, but he was tired of the politics.
    “A week. Two, tops,” Ty said after a quick canvass of his options. “I know nothing about her at this point. And setting people at ease isn’t usually my strong suit. But as I doubt she just sits around having visions all day, I’ll have to try and learn some people skills, I suppose.”
    He’d meant it as a little joke, but Arsinöe was obviously not in the mood.
    “It had better be less than two weeks,” she said, and Ty could hear the steel in her voice. “And if she is what you say, the woman will do as she is told. She will be well compensated, of course. Tell her she will be returned home. Tell her everything will go back to normal, will be set to rights if she does this service for me. For my
people
.And throw in an offer of money if that isn’t enough. That should do it. It always does.”
    “You would let her go after this?” Ty asked, surprised.
    “Of course not. But that doesn’t mean I won’t keep her well. She may come in handy. One never knows. But it has little to do with you, Tynan,” Arsinöe said, a casual dismissal that cut him to the quick. It had been many years since she had openly snubbed him for being less than her own blood.
    His months away began to feel like years. What had
happened
?
    But she seemed to have no intention of telling him, instead shifting gears smoothly into the role she often played with both servants and courtiers: the playful seductress. Ty could actually hear the sly smile in her voice when she asked, “Is she pretty, this new discovery of yours?”
    Ty raked his fingers through his hair and looked to the heavens, a sky scattered with stars.
She knew.
Of course she did. The woman was ancient and had been born to rule, to manipulate people, to understand their motivations and use them. His three centuries on Earth, on the other hand, hadn’t given him much artifice. Usually he didn’t care, but he was surprised at how little he enjoyed having Arsinöe picking up on his interest. They had never been lovers, but she was a jealous creature by nature. She must be the only woman, even to her lowly pet hunter.
    Easily done when no self-respecting vampiress would bed a Cait more than once.
    “She’s all right, I guess,” he allowed, trying for noncommittal as opposed to a lie he’d eventually be caught in. No one could look at Lily Quinn and believe for an instant he’d thought her plain.
    “Hmm,” was all Arsinöe said. “Maybe I should send someone along to help you. So you don’t get distracted.”
    Ty frowned, knowing full well that her teasing tone hid truth. “If you’re going to send anyone, send Jaden,” he said, referring to his closest blood brother, a Cait Sith only slightly younger than himself. He wasn’t the most personable of vampires, either, but he was unusually trustworthy.
    Arsinöe’s soft laughter again stirred the hair at the back of his neck. She seemed to have other ideas.
    “You
have
been gone hunting a while, haven’t you?”
    “Is something wrong?” he asked, gritting his