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Except there was no promise And there was no safety Krelis had finally understood that when he watched five pairs of eyes fill with terror when he left them in that barren rooht it was because he wanted the kind of power that could only be attained by serving in the First Circle of a strong court Now he kneas because he’d wanted to be safe And hewas safe Safe fro ed Safe from the petty abuse inflicted on males by any witch ore a darker Jewel Safe froo

Safe fro except Dorothea

Which meant he wasn’t safe at all

But she was all he had now He’d realized that, too, when he’d seen how carefully the guards ere posted outside that barren roo hi that the Master would protect his men from the whims of the witches in the court They would obey him to escape punishment, but they would never respect him

With one order, Dorothea had isolated him from everyone but her First Circle--and he’d even be isolated froh to erase his failure up to this point If his cousin was subjected to that grueso, his family would tolerate his presence when he joined them but would never welcome him His dream of a pretty, placid, broodmare ould wither and die with his unborn children He’d be leftthe whores orked in the Red Moon houses

Krelis raised the bottle of brandy to his lips and kept sing until he needed to breathe

He’d find the little bitch before his cousin felt Dorothea’s knife

And his pet would learn the price of failure

Chapter Nineteen

"Would you like to play chess?" Jared asked as he set up the game board the innkeeper had provided and tried--hard--not to throw a fine fit of male hysterics That’s what Lia had called his reaction when her legs had buckled while she’d been pacing the roo the stiffness out of the the shit out ofhied little Queen had threatened to dump the hot soup that had been part of theher to take a nap

He didn’t pester He never pestered He wasconcernedCouldn’t she tell the difference?

"One ga his teeth so he wouldn’t yell at her to sit down "Just to pass the tie sweater and snug trousers that had belonged to one of the innkeeper’s sons, Lia crossed her arave Jared a stony stare that would have made him nervous if it hadn’t been accompanied by a hint of a pout "You snarled the last time we played"

Jared placed one hand over his heart "I proame, anyway "Of course, if you don’t want to play, we could just turn in for the night"

She snarled at him

"She who snarls shouldn’t corumbles," Jared said virtuously

Her hands balled into fists

Jared watched her, fighting against the desire to provoke her a little more In her weakened condition, if she threw a punch at him, she’d probably end up on the floor and would be even madder when he had to help her up

After he’d finished setting up his red pieces to his satisfaction, Jared reached for the black pieces

"Mine!" Lia said, sitting down too abruptly for the movement to have been completely intended

While she set up her pieces, Jared poured a glass of fruit juice for her and a glass of wine for hiht,breath she took than any belief that his presence would help her This , he’d been rudely awakened when her elbow jabbed his belly and she started swearing to do vile things to his o When his still-sleepy brain had finally understood the reason for the desperation that laced her curses, he’dher into the bathroo when he tucked her back into bed and clih to be angry that he never gave a thought to how shea naked male beside her He’d cuddled her for an hour

And he’d held her and cried with her when she asked about Tomas

He’d tried to spoon-feed her at breakfast

He’d tried to give her a bath

He’dout that she’d been very ill the night before and needed a lot of rest

So maybe he’d fussed a bit too much, but he was entitled to fuss She’d scared him She’d more than scared hi already," Lia gruh narrowed eyes She tossed her hair over her shoulders and picked up the glass of fruit juice

Her hair was like a soft, dark cloud, Jared thought, sipping his wine She’d let him brush it after her bath--had to let him brush it because, after a few strokes, her arms had felt too heavy to lift Daemon had drawn most of the venohting to survive on top of the de the a spell around her that Dae the year they’d been in the same court It had put her to sleep for a couple of hours

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