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I straightened nore them as Mal threw his arm around etting worried"

"I aylaid by a gang of angry bears," I ain?"

"I don’t knohere you get these ideas"

"You re to his friend

"How do you go?" Jes asked in broken Ravkan, offering rave

"Very well, thank you," I replied in Zeently patted my hand Jes was definitely an odd one

We chatted a short while longer, but I knew Mal could see I was getting anxious I didn’t like to be out in the open for too long We said our goodbyes, and before Jes left, he shotto Mal

"What did he say?" I asked as atched hi Did you know you have pollen in your brows?" He reached out to gently brush it away

"Maybe I wanted it there"

"My mistake"

As we pushed off from the fountain, one of the washerwo out of her dress

"If you ever get tired of skin and bones," she called to Mal, "I’ve got solanced over his shoulder Slowly, he looked her up and down "No," he said flatly "You don’t"

The girl’s face flushed an ugly red as the others jeered and cackled, splashing her ater I tried for a haughtily arched brow, but it was hard to restrain the goofy grin pulling at the corners of mytoward our boardinghouse

"For what?"

I rolledmy honor, you dullard"

He yankedI had a ht he’d spotted trouble, but then his arms were around me and his lips were pressed to mine

When he finally drew back, one wobbly

"Just to be clear," he said, "I’ your honor"

"Understood," II didn’t sound too ridiculously breathless

"Besides," he said, "I need to steal every minute I can before we’re back at the Pit"

The Pit hat Mal called our boardinghouse It was crowded and filthy and afforded us no privacy at all, but it was cheap He grinned, cocky as ever, and pulled me back into the flow of people on the street Despite hter I still wasn’t used to the idea of us together Another flutter passed through me On the frontier there would be no curious boarders or unwanted interruptions My pulse gave a little jump--whether from nerves or exciteain, when ood care of you"

"That’s all?"

Mal cleared his throat "And … he said he would pray to the God of Work to heal your affliction"

"My what?"

"I oiter"

I stu your pardon?"

"Well, I had to explain why you were always clinging to that scarf"

I dropped

"So you told hioiter?" I whispered incredulously

"I had to say soirl, giant growth, you know"

I punched hioiters are considered very fashionable"