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Lia’s head snapped up "Prince Talon isnot a bastard-- of any kind," she said hotly "He’s a good, honorable man Besides, he’s Polli’s uncle Since he was the one who asked us to look for her, why shouldn’t I send her with him when there was the chance?"

Jared stared at Lia and then shook his head to clear it That hard-eyed Warlord Prince was Polli’s uncle? Well, that explained why she’d been willing to go with hie wasn’t a trick," Lia said, bristling "The escorts aiting for us at the western Coach station were attacked When we didn’tfor us" Tears filled her eyes She sluer supported her "My uncle was leading the escorts ere supposed to bring us home"

Jared moved to her bench and put his ar soothing noises while she cried out the fear and grief she’d had to hide

When she finally quieted, he called in a handkerchief and let her sniffle into it for anotherher head up

"Want to tell ently Before she could say anything, he pressed a finger against her lips "Let me tell you what I think happened You arrived at the auction ground as soon as it opened and spent the day going from auction block to auction block until you found all of the people you’d come for Probably took you the best part of the day, too I iht a couple of the others while you were searching so that it wouldn’t be obvious you aiting for particular slaves to come to the block, but you would have been careful not to overspend at that point Then, once you had the five you cah marks to buy three or four more slaves But you wouldn’t have settled for the first ones who came on the block after that You would have looked for people who could still appreciate the gift of freedo those hard choices took soht?"

Reluctantly, she nodded

"Now, by the time you’d old et you to a Coach station close to the Taivethe inally trained as an escort, Lady, and no man who serves in that capacity would have let you leave without et honant sputters "So there must have been a secondary plan if you couldn’t reed Which e"

"I told you--"

Jared pressed his finger against her lips again ‘"You came to buy five, and they were expensive purchases Brock and Randolf would have been expensive, too But Garth? You ht have paid more than a sihtened your purse by much" When she started to protest, he held his hand firht be the prience, but even there a young, half-Blood o forIan-den fee and buy a starving little bastard of either sex And little Cathryn-- a pretty Blood female that an aristo male would use as a breeder after his broken wife produced the one child she’d be capable of bearing But Cathryn’s only nine, and if healthy offspring are the intention, she isn’t going to be useful for several o for ine you hadfor a broken Black Widoith a vicious temper Which leaves me"

She stared at him, wide-eyed

Jared took his hand away from her mouth and found he needed a moht e on another Coach"

Lia shook her head, but he saw the truth in the shadows that darkened her gray eyes

"I knohere the bidding starts for a fully trained pleasure slave--even a vicious one And even though you weren’t bidding against anyone, the auction steouldn’t have accepted a price that wasbid would have been So I was the purchase that emptied your purse a little too much"

She wouldn’t look at hi order, Lia It was al when you ca the handkerchief, Jared wiped the fresh tears from her face "Why, Lia? Why were you even down there?"

"I don’t know," Lia said, her voice catching "I just needed to go down there I knew there was soh eyelashes that were spiky from the tears

Jared frowned "A compulsion spell?"

Lia jerked Her eyes widened, then narrowed thoughtfully After a moment, she shook her head "I would have sensed it"

"Would you? If a darker Jewel--"

"You wouldn’t believe the drills I was put through," Lia replied sourly "No I knohat compulsion spells feel like And I was drilled in how to look for all kinds of illusion webs, which is why I sensed soain "If itwas a compulsion spell, it fully subtle"

He wouldn’t have expected any other kind if it caood tinize akind of spell didn’t guarantee being able to recognize aparticular spell

Had he been the bait for a trap? Had Dorothea deliberately warned Lia away from that Coach station so that she’d be stranded still within Hayll’s reach, forced to travel overland instead of riding the Winds?<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>