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"Lia" Jared waited for her to acknowledge his presence

She didn’t

Feeling aard, he shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he watched herso softly he couldn’t make out the words that weren’t meant for hiers of her right hand rested just above the soil in the pot She poured the water over her fingers and murmured a phrase The same movements, the same words, over and over

It wasn’t until he really looked at the seedlings in the first pots and sa reener they looked than the rest of the plants that he realized what she was doing

Queen’s ends, the Blood had been created to be the caretakers of the Realiven to maintain the balance between the land and all its creatures As the caretakers, they beca that walked upon Terreille or flew above it or swam in its waters

The price of poas service Or so the legends said

The Blood had a deep respect for the land Many had a special gift for nurturing it

But only a Queen could heal it once it had been wounded Only a Queen’s blood and a Queen’s strength could turn barren ground back into fertile soil

They were, after all, the land’s heart

Coht hand and poured water froertips

"No, Lia," he said gently, turning her around

She stared at his chest "Let me do this I need to do this"

Jared shook his head "There’s nowhere to plant theo" Was that true for the Shalador people as well? he wondered Would they, too, wither and die?

Since she didn’t pull away froed her closer He sighed when her hands touched his waist

"I used to help her in here," Jared said in a hushed voice "She always said I had toto what?" Lia asked when he didn’t continue

Jared gri to pester her"

Lia chuckled "No wonder you’re so good at it You’ve been in training your whole life"

Jaredher closer, he rested -his cheek on the top of her head "I saw her once, a fewtime I don’t know if she was in that particular Territory for another reason and just happened to be walking in that plaza that day or if she’d somehow found out where I was and had come to see olden-skinned wo black hair that flowed to her waist and those rare green eyes" He paused "I have her eyes"

Lia stroked his back

"The witches in charge of the training saw her, too They didn’t know, or care, who she was, only that her presence there was important to hI could do about it There was nothing they’d done to me up to that point that had humiliated me quite that much In a way, it’s ironic that I felt so much shame because Shalador boys look forward to the day e’re old enough for the Fire Dance, for the time e’ll step into the dance circle and display ourselves to every wo for iven it a thought"

"That’s different," Lia murmured "That would have been your choice, and it was part of theyour people"

"Yes," Jared whispered, not sure he could bear her understanding "So I went up to her, and I told her it was her fault That all of it was her fault That it was because of her that I was Ringed and would never know any pleasure with a woman That if she’d been a different kind of woman, this wouldn’t have happened to me

"Then I told her I hated her, and I walked away

"I looked back just once She was on the ground, curled up in a tight ball No one stopped No one touched her or tried to help her"

"Oh, Jared"

"I bla time because it was safer to blaet the look in her eyes when I said those things I couldn’t forget seeing her on the ground

"When I stopped blao home I even made a couple of tiony the Ring can produce to otten hoh to see her, to talk to her Just long enoughAnd now I’m home, and it’s too late I’m too late, and I’ll never be able to take back the words"