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And he reht him back into her family once he’d severed all ties with Olvan; the woman who had looked at hi of lovers, who spread her legs for any ined his s

Krelis reached his rooaa ties with the Hundred Families, his people had been countryfolk He hadn’t been raised to play these games Dorothea must have known that

Which made him wonder, for the first time, why she had chosen him to be her Master of the Guard

Chapter Thirteen

Jared slipped out of the stone building, pausing to take a deep breath of crisp night air No one would follow hi ht and wouldn’t need him for a little while

Jared s needing hi under her breath every time he’d carried her from the table to her mattress Every time he’d carried her to the privy hole, it had taken her resentain And every tiet around hie and wisely stay out of reach for a few minutes while she muttered and snarled

But his "unreasonable" attitude and stubbornness about not letting her walk on her injured leg had produced swift results By co skills with Thera’s and Lia’s knowledge of healing, they had alh so that this afternoon she’d been able to hobble around as long as she held on to so--usually Tomas’s shoulder

Her efforts to resist help from him had irritated and ah to restrict her helpers to Thera and the children It would be ludicrous to feel jealous about them, and he could tolerate Blaed’s courtesies to Lia because Blaed was interested in Thera But the other adult males

It wasn’t so much jealousy, he decided as he studied the full moon and clear sky It was the possessiveness and territoriality that was a male’s response to a witch’s in It was the sexual potential of the other e, ot too close to Lia After all, they hadn’t known each other when Lia bought theo--and a few days didn’t buy a lot of trust when balanced against instincts bred intohi

Or, perhaps, it was the way his own blood heated every tiy

Fortunately, the otherhis head, Jared walked to the north end of the clearing

He would have thought a Queen would enjoy a little pa The witches who had controlled his life for the past nine years certainly had Hell’s fire, a pleasure slave who didn’t jues he had--or worse, find hiain, Reyna had never been gracious about Belarr’s pa the first three days of her moon-time either The first day she’d snap and snarl at hih it hadn’t been constant Belarr had the adent for Ranon’s Wood to handle, as well as three young sons to keep occupied so they would give Reyna some peace It was like a moon’s blood ritual between them Reyna would snap and snarl until Belarr would respond with, "When you ht to fuss" That would usually silence her Perhaps it was being so vulnerable that made it hard for her to yield, because on the fourth day, when shecould wear the Jewels again and use Craft, she enjoyed Belarr’s pa

Once, after Reyna’s temper had been especially harsh, Jared had asked his father why he tolerated being treated that way Belarr had said, "Even athese days If showing a bit of temper makes her feel safer, that’s fine with me since there’s no cruelty in it Besides, this is a shts," Belarr had added quietly, s

Jared smiled at the memory He didn’t think Belarr had meant for his son to hear that last bit Or maybe he had The sons had understood early on that, when it came to Reyna, their father had the dominant claim

Tomorroould be the fourth day of Lia’sat hi, his s stirred