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Great Wonderful

Was he the only one who hadn’t figured it out?

As soon as he passed the wagon, he urged the gelding into a trot, not waiting for Blaed

A ed his wet clothes before heading back down the road Jared slowed the gelding to a walk and waited for Garth to look at him

He studied the man’s face What lay behind those pale blue eyes? "Thank you for saving Eryk and Tomas"

Garth just looked at hie hand in a casual salute and turned his attention back to the road

Too ht, as Blaed joined hi to be a Gray A broken Black Widoasn’t broken Aand intelligence

And, possibly, an eneht wear the face of a friend

Too hts aside There wasn’t time for questions But later, when they were all safely tucked away in the clearing, he intended to get sos, Jared rapped once on the wagon’s door and went in without waiting for a response

The witchlight he’d created earlier had grown small and dim, the power that had sustained it allooh to sense her pain--and her fear of the ht descend on her now that her ability to protect herself was so impaired Wasn’t that why she’d chosen the cold solitude of the wagon to the war the witchlight a few drops of his Red strength so that they’d be able to see each other, he thought about using a waron ainst it

"Here," Jared said, handing her one of the s ‘"This breon’t help your bruises or your knee, but it should ease the other disco for its warmth "Thank you," she said quietly

Jared sat on the opposite bench and sipped his coffee He understood the hesitation One of the first things the Blood learned when they began their for was how to probe food and drink for substances that shouldn’t be there It didn’t alork There were subtle poisons, substances that were har else, sedatives that could react fast enough to leave a person at the mercy of an unsuspected ene her rub her finger around the ’s riht now

"I made a cup for Thera, too," Jared said

She took a tiny sip, then stared at the ood" She studied hi at hi brew?"

"My s" Which wasn’t quite a lie Hehad picked up so Craft from Reyna The moontime brews just didn’t happen to be part of it

But the words did what he’d expected them to do A Healer was a respected woman, and there was the implicit faith that a Healer wouldn’t create a brew that would harm

He knew better In places that stood in Hayll’s shadow, Healers weren’t alell trained or respected, and some had made the choice to har her shoulders relax as she took another sip, he felt relieved that the healing Craft was still strong in Dena Nehele

He didn’t want to hurt her She was hurting so much already But her self-imposed exile had made it possible for hi attention to it, and there were questions he had put aside while they returned to the clearing, ate, and settled in for the evening, too weary to do anything , and sent out psychic tendrils of reassurance so that his strength and maleness wouldn’t intimidate her so much she wouldn’t talk to hi, he sipped his coffee What was he supposed to call her? Did the people in the court address her as Lady Arabella Ardelia? Formally perhaps, but surely not in a normal conversation Lady Arabella? That made him think of a fair, dainty wo-boned, solid-enerous curves Lady Ardelia?

Yes

A wo as the land, with a heart of fire

The Lady, on the other hand, ht have a different opinion

"What do your people call you?" he asked, surprised at how ht disappoint hion, she looked directly at him Her lips twitched "My father calls me Bella My mother calls me Belle" Her expression darkened, and her lips curled in a silent snarl "My cousin calls me belly button" She sipped the brew and muttered under her breath, "I never likedto his lips, covering the smile "Which do you prefer?"

"Lia," she said "When I was seven, I decided I wanted to be called Lia So that’s what everyone calls me now-- exceptto hide the grin

Sheextremely uncomplimentary

Lia The name flowed over hiine the village children calling to her to see the new puppy, the new kitten, the new bit of Craft that had been learned He could hear the affectionate way the men and older women talked about her Have you heard what Lady Lia’s been up to lately?<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>