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"I can do that," Jared croaked when the escort started s salve on the belly wounds He wasn’t sure about that, wasn’t even sure he could stand uphis threshold of physical endurance Balls and sass were a fragile shield, but, right now, they were all he had "I can do that," he said again

"Shut up," the escort snarled as he hurriedly applied the salve

Jared studied the grim face, the shadows in the eyes that avoided his The escort was a Warlord ore the Purple Dusk Jewel How did he survive looking at the bruised, naked bodies of his Brothers? How did he survive looking at the ones who had been o home to a lover or a wife he felt some affection for? Did he have children he cuddled and played with and loved? Or had he picked up a witch at the auction one year, one already broken and barren, who? What did he think of the ht and sold here? Had he ever looked up one day and seen aon the auction block?

Ah, the shadows in the eyes The worry behind having to escort someone like the Gray Lady around the slave fairLook well , Jared thought as thethe salve and stepped awayLook at the price you hts had been sent on a psychic spear thread, the escort looked Jared in the eyes Seconds passed in strained silence "You’re nothing but a pretty le for the Ladies to play with," the escort snarled

Jared sely "I’er than you’ll ever be, can unleash power you can only dreahtened His breathing beca now"

The clothes had been dropped on a rough bench next to the small table that held the basin Jared forced himself to look away froh

With a fiercely pleased look in his eyes, the escort used Craft to vanish the basin "You ed I ht not know the power you wielded when it was yours to command, but I’ll walk out of here a free man, have a cold dipper of water whenever I want it, have a tankard of ale once I’ve seen the Gray Lady safely onto a Coach, and tonight I’ll mount a wootten down on your belly and licked the bottom of my boots for a sip of fouled water"

"I won’t deny it," Jared said "But you, free? For now, maybe The only difference between service and slavery is a circle of gold If the Red can be chained, how long will the Purple Dusk stay free? If the right a do you think it would take to turn the handsome escort into a handsory red He raised a fist

Jared didn’t speak, didn’tinto the hallway and sht to hide the clashing emotions, saw the moment the man realized he wouldn’t be able to justify the "discipline"

Lowering his fist, the escort spat out words like they were gristle "In fiveyou out of here" He flung open the hallway door but stopped in the doorway and stared at Jared with burning eyes "I hope she cuts you apart a piece at a tiine she will," Jared said, after the escort slaed the couple of steps needed to reach the rough bench Spreading the shirt, he sat on it carefully, grateful his shaking legs didn’t have to support hi at the pond, re before you sit on it or you’ll have splinters where you least want them

Where’s that, Mother?

Ask your father

So he had Belarr had studied his son for aabout why couldn’t they have had one girl so he could return the favor Then Belarr had sighed and explained what he thought Reyna meant That’s the way Belarr always phrased it:I think what yourWarlord, he felt the need to hedge when it ca a woman’s words, especially the words of the wo in ways that hurt deeper than physical wounds ever could, Jared pulled on the coarsely woven trousers and slipped his feet into the poorly made leather sandals He picked up the scratchy shirt but couldn’t bring hi a careful breath, he turned toward the full-lengthwhere pleasure slaves changed hands, the entire back as a mirror He understood the reason for that He didn’t want to think about why they’d put a roohtly brushed the buttons on the trousers’ fly Psychic sense, physical sensehe just couldn’t feel the Invisible Ring There was no way to tell how fine-tuned itboundary was betas per punishe the risks when there were no reference points But he just couldn’t pull that shirt over his head without doing so to protect the wounds He’d listened to men scream when a shirt that had stuck to lash wounds was pulled off their backs, tearing off the fresh scabs with it He’d seen what those men had looked like when the wounds finally healed

Basic healing Craft A thiht protective shield around his back and belly that would keep the shirt away fro another careful breath, Jared created the shield and waited

Nothing No surge fro hard to push his heart back down his throat, Jared pulled on the shirt and studied the , but even so he was a good-looking olden Shalador skin--not brown like the long-lived Hayllians or fair like other races, but sun-kissed, gold-dusted A pleasing shade when combined with the dark-brown hair and brown eyes of the Shalador people<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>