"You didn't try to eat me." Julienne exhales. "It'd have been easy for you, too. This thing had claws; I don't."
Xiaoqing touches the fear-etched marks, teeth driven over and over into flesh. "In all my centuries I've never met a mortal so fearless."
"It's hard to be really scared here—I should be in hysterics. In Hong Kong I would probably have run and not looked back. I don't know."
"You sell your courage short." She takes the hand, finally, and pulls herself up. Every part in her courses with renewed potency. Her feet light, her muscles coiled, weapons whetted and ready in their sheaths. "Never allow yourself to believe you're anything but extraordinary."
Julienne considers her for a moment before saying, "You're reeking."
* * *
The lynx must have been hiding it, for when Olivia h
