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skull, he knew it was really the resentful and envious feelings for his half-brother that had caused
the problem.
One more day, he thought as he sat down on the top step, burying his face in his hands.
He had cloaked himself with misdirection so Wynter's neighbors did not see him but at that
moment he didn't care if they did or not. He was nearing his Transition and would be out of the
game for at least five days if not longer. That didn't set well with him for he knew gods-be-
damned well the Nightwind would have the advantage and make the most of it.
* * * *
"You know what Baybridge is, don't you?" Chance asked over lunch.
Wynter looked up from her taco salad. "The institution for the criminally insane?"
"Is there another?" he countered.
A bit irritated at his droll query, Wynter stabbed a piece of tomato with her fork. "I pass
by there all the time on the way home. What of it?"
"That's where he was for twenty years."
Fork halfway to her mouth, lips parted, Wynter raised her gaze to her companion. "I beg
your pardon?"
"Kaegan," Chance said. "That's where he was incarcerated."
WINDS THROUGH TIME Charlotte Boyett-Compo 75
A shudder rippled through Wynter and took her appetite with it as it passed. Slowly she
lowered her fork. She said nothing to the statement, lifting her napkin from her lap, instead, to
blot her suddenly dry mouth.
"He killed a man with his bare hands," Chance continued. "Manslaughter but homicide
just the same. He snapped the guy's neck like a twig then relieved him of his ...."
"I don't want to hear this," Wynter interrupted him. Her fingers were gripping the napkin
so tightly her hand was beginning to cramp. She laid the napkin beside her plate.
Chance gave her an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Wynnie, but I thought you should know.
He has a violent temper and ...."
"I said I don't want to hear it!" she snapped. "I came here to discuss the booksigning and
not my relationship with your brother." Her hand was trembling so she shoved it into her lap to
clasp her other hand.
"I apologize," her dinner partner said. He pushed his plate aside. "I won't mention him
again."
"Thank you," she said, her jaw clenched.
"All right, let's discuss the signing, then," he said with an encouraging smile. "I think I
told you I have the actors lined up to do the scene from Love's Return."
"Which scene?" she asked, almost defiantly.
His forehead creased. "Beg pardon?"
"Which scene are they going to act out?"
"I thought the one where Deborah is on the ship and meets ...."
"Chance and Siobhan?" she demanded.
"Ah, yes, that was the one."
Wynter stared hard at him. "Why did you pick that particular one?"
"No special reason," he said. "I just thought it was a good scene. The two male actors
have studied fencing and the two female actors engaging in a dagger fight would make for heart
stopping entertainment."
"And you could rub it in his face because that was when you and I first met," she said as
a muscle flexed in her jaw.
Chance narrowed his eyes. "I see there have been some tales told out of school."
She lifted her chin. "I've had to come to terms with a lot of stuff that is so far beyond the
norm that I'm having a hard time accepting a lot of it. I know what you are, what he is, and even
though all of it is far outside the realm of what I think of as ordinary I am learning to adapt. I
can accept the magick and the fact that neither you nor he is ...." She lowered her voice.
"Entirely human. What I can't and won't accept is being played, Azzin. If you are set on
courting me, you'll do it squarely and fairly as who you are and not who and what you are
pretending to be."
He stared at her for a long moment then slowly nodded. "All right. I can agree to that.
The Ridgelords won't allow either of us to use our magical abilities to win you but if you know
we possess them, they aren't secrets now, are they?"
"It makes no difference," a voice droned in his head. "Use your powers and lose the
competition!"
The voice belonged to High Lord Kaleb and the tone was filled with warning.
"I think the scene where Kaegan and Deborah discuss their future together would be
better," she told him. "It's a tender scene and the women coming to the signing would prefer that
to a fight scene between two women."
WINDS THROUGH TIME Charlotte Boyett-Compo 76
"All right," he agreed.
"Now that that's settled, what else is on the agenda?" she asked in a businesslike voice. "I
have some thoughts about the guest list."
The Nightwind could feel the Reaper close by but he couldn't see him. He surreptitiously
glanced around the diner but neither Kaegan's aura or scent could be detected among the
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