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¬ FASHIRE

"What?" Maybelle stiffened and stepped back from me, her back hitting the wall of the narrow passage. 

I chuckled and said more to myself than her, "I might have bitten more than I could chew the moment that girl caught my attention."

"How did that even—" 

"Don't bother to ask. It's not like I can explain it." 

Her sluggish pace had merely irritated me, but when I had tried to toy with her will and control her, it hadn't worked. Instead, she had gone into some sort of trance, lost in a world of her own. 

It had been like a defence against my intrusion. 

No lower-ranking vampire had such an ability. It wasn't even something I had heard of before, and when I had looked into her, I had been met with a whole different revelation. 

Maybelle whispered, "Paloma… You are convinced that the woman by the King's side is—"