"How unexpected to meet you here," a terribly familiar voice said from the doorway of Elderflower Books, and I looked up from stacking the latest edition of the New Salon to see Lark silhouetted by the midday sun, idly twirling her ivory pipe between her fingers.

I still felt that conditioned pull toward her, but this time it was countered by the bright clarity of immediate danger and I heard myself say, dryly, "Given that I have been employed here since autumn, and further that I am quite sure you have been aware of that fact for nearly the total period of that employment, I find your choice of words somewhat astonishing -- indeed, one might almost call them unexpected."

"Ah Jemis, I have missed you," Lark said, and smiled like a razor caressing a throat.