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"Maybe," Jared growled

Blaed’s laughter stopped alan The roan htened on the reins So predatory flickered in his eyes

Jared started probing, searching "What’s wrong?"

"Thayne," Blaed said through gritted teeth "He says Thera and Lia are snapping at each other Everyone’s uneasy"

"Da’s sides a second after Blaed kicked the allop

Blaed, Jared said a ed up the hill and swept past an anxious-looking Thayne We’ve got two lead ropes

Blaed bared his teeth That suits ht as he and Blaed dis women That would suit both of them just fine

Jared picked up a fist-sized rock and threw it as hard as he could The o felt as hard as that rock in his stomach Even the honey pear, ripened to perfection, had tasted bitter

Fool Thrice-ti here? He could have been with his family now He could have talked to Reyna He could have beenho another of these excuses for a road

He could have been in his ive hi the hurts and worries like she used to do when he was a boy Mother Night, how he’dheld by Reyna

He threw another rock

Lia hadn’t expected him to come back He’d seen it in her eyes before she could hide it She’d expected hirab the chance of a little distance, catch the Winds, and disappear

That’swhy she had given him all those marksThat’s why she had intended to send him alone

What would she have done when he didn’t return? Ride into the village herself to buy whatever she could with the reuessed? Was that why she’d insisted on Blaed going with hi and supplies?

Well, if Lia was going to let one male slip the leash, why not all of them? They wouldn’t assume it was because he outranked her Anyof Obedience kneell it could control a darker-Jeweled male Or would they assume he’d been able to slip the leash because he wore the Invisible Ring?

Which was the point, da of Obedience She’d placed a Ring on him, and even if his body couldn’t feel it, his heart did--and that Ring got heavier with every step he took away from a fast journey to Ranon’s Wood

But it wasn’t the Invisible Ring that held him back The fact that she had expected hih that she didn’t intend to use it to control him What really kept hith on the journey in exchange for the freedom she’d purchased

And, damn her, she had hurt him The witches who had owned and used his body had never been able to hurt him as deeply as she had

He watched Blaed canter toward him He must have fallen so far behind someone had started to worry Not Lady Ardelia, of course

He liked Blaed, but he wished it had been Brock who had coain, despite pleasure slaves being at the top of the slave hierarchy, most other slaves seemed to think that once a man was used in bed he couldn’t remember what the word "honor" ht the saet He was tired of sulking by hi down from behind Blaed

Jared swore under his breath

Blaed wheeled the roan on

Thera fell in step beside Jared "Want sothened his stride

"Too bad" Since she wasn’t tall enough to throw her ar both ar her

He slowed down Reluctantly "Let go"

She ignored the snarled order "Being an only child, I don’t have any firsthand experience, but it’s been es of a younger sister is to be a ripe boil on her older brother’s backside"

"Well, you certainly qualify for that," Jared growled "Though you should keep in et rid of a boil is to lance it"

They walked in silence for a few e, Jared?"

Jared looked at the cool eyes watching hi in the village We left to get some supplies We came back"

Thera tucked solad to see you"

"Of course she was"

Thera nodded as if so finally made sense "I don’t think Brock or Randolf would have co Lia should have knoould come back Damn her

Thera waited a , asked, "What do you think will happen once we get to Dena Nehele?"

Jared clenched his teeth Damn damn damn

"Lia’s asked me several ti Each time, when I told her that I hadn’t, she mentioned that her mother was a Sapphire-Jeweled Black Widoould be very pleased to have a Green-Jeweled apprentice or journeyht," Jared muttered

"Only a cruel person would say that to a slave--unless the slave was never intended to be a slave Don’t you think?"

Jared bit his tongue

Thera nodded as if he’d answered "That’s what I thought, too You knohat else I think? I think she had a reason for the choices she made in Raej, that she chose each of us because she felt she had so, Jared stopped walking "She has so to offer anyone with the sense to see it"

"That’s what Blaed said"

"Blaed’s a fool"