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Gray stuffed the roll with scras, then smeared a little jam on part of the roll He took a bite and made a face

"Too sweet?" Cassidy asked

"Yes," he said, glad he hadn’t sood," he added quickly

She laughed She had a wonderful laugh, warht, brittle sound of cruelty

"My s My brother prefers this red sauce that’s a little spicy"

"That sounds better"

She gave him an odd look--and an even odder smile Not bad, just odd

He ate his sandwich and drank his coffee, not sure what else to do

"You didn’t coht the barrow out for you each day, but you didn’t coht so the ground would stay rain soft and be easier for her to dig

"I wanted to come back, but there’s been an awful lot of work to do All these s and reportsEvery tiarden, Theran has herdedtoointo a Sceltie"

Gray laughed He’d ame of fetch with her, but she did spend more time with Theran

Cassidy poured ht I decided I can only work so long and so hard without taking soarden eachcleaned up for the business part of the day"

Gray felt light enough to float "You’re going to come every day?"

She nodded "I need some time to be Cassidy before I have to be ‘the Queen’ I know there’s so arden I need this time"

Me too

He set his cup back on the tray "Then let’s not waste the ti, Cassidy headed back to the house Her arood feeling to let her body hile herbesides h to give her accurate information

The Warlord Princes didn’t trust Queens They needed them for themselves and for the rest of Dena Nehele, but they didn’t trust the caste of witches who had represented a brutal control for so long Even thewarily, and each action, each piece of inforround to find out what she would do, how she would respond

Shira too ary, but that had to do with her being a Black Widow and co accepted

Were Shira and Ranon lovers? Or were they still dancing around each other?

Not her problem--she hoped But wouldn’t it be lovely to watch two people fall in love?

About the only person here wholing with so whenever he was around her At least they could talk about plants At least there was the co results

Hours spent poring overrun, but an hour spent weeding a flower bed provided results she could see

And Gray had provided her with so She’d already sent her first report to Prince Sadi and a note to her mother, but now she had a reason to write to Clayton--and wouldn’t her brother be surprised at her request to send her a jar of the red sauce he liked so rin as she pictured Clayton’s face when he read the note Yes, this"Prince Theran"

"Prince Powell has been waiting to go over the reports with you"

"The Steward has plenty to do," Cassidy said with stiff polite-ness "Talking to o or an hour from noon’tihtened, as if he was struggling to hold back words that shouldn’t be said

"Now if you’ll excuse et ready for the day’s work"

He stepped aside, letting her pass

She wanted to like him, if for no better reason than he was her First Escort and that required them to work closely But as she walked to her suite, she wondered if it orth the effort to try to like ait more clear every day that he didn’t like her

Bitch

Theran stared at the gardens, at the plot of ground that was noticeably cleaner, and at his cousin as still out there, sweating too hard over so ht and tired and Gray would be down for days, sedated to quiet the pain

But Cassidy had to have her ground cleared instead of focusing on what needed to be done, so Gray was out there working too long and too hard

Damn her Why couldn’t she leave the boy alone?