She had just been for a five-mile run on the ring road around the town. The exercise had been exactly what she'd needed after finishing the journal the night before. She hadn't slept a wink. It had been overwhelming—the casual mention of witches and fey and vampires, not to mention so much death and bloodshed. She'd felt even more like Alice thrust down an ever-deepening rabbit hole. The magnitude of her birthright and the shadowy path of her future hung like twin nooses around her neck. Who was she, really? She shook her head and tried to pull herself together for her date with Christian. Apart from seeing him for those brief seconds driving past each other yesterday en route to the lake, she hadn't seen him all week. She should have felt relieved but instead, she'd felt strangely depressed. The ringing of the telephone made her jump. "Hello?" "Tori, it's Christian," he said without preamble. "I realize I didn't mention where we were going." His velvety voice was husky, and Victoria's throat tightened in automatic response.
