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"What you said about sht track" He looked up, rine Like the falcon People call rine Perry New infor? But Aria found she couldn’t even look at hie had needed to explain to her that she wasShe bit into her raw inner lip and tasted blood Her eyes blurred She had never thought so et away from it

"Why did you do this?" she asked "Find all this stuff for athered all of this and told her his name

"You needed it" He rubbed a hand over the back of his head Then he sat down, propping his long arht you were dying this oing to give it to me of your oill"

Aria picked up a rock She’d developed a habit of lining the sense of the randolo why she’d ever bothered pocketing such an ugly ht the Smarteye back to be noble, exactly Maybe so But ht about the cannibals And she owed hi her life Three tirateful and wished she had She knew she needed these things, and needed his help But she didn’t want to need anything

He nodded, accepting her thanks

They fell into silence The Aether light seeped down into the decrepit house, washing away the shadows As tired as she was, her senses filled with the chill of the air against her face With the weight of the rock resting in her hand and the dusty s and felt the quiet power of his attention She felt completely where she was There with hi like it

"My people celebrate the first blood," he said after a moment, his voice soft and deep "The woirl--woht, all the women in one house AndI don’t knohat happens after that My sister says they tell stories, but I don’t knohat they are I think they explain the h"

Aria’s cheeks went hot She didn’t want to change She wanted to go ho can there be? See no matter how you look at it"

"You can bear children now"

"That’s completely primitive! Children are special where I come from They’re created carefully, each one It’s not a randooes into every person You have no idea"

Too late, she re her shoes Murdering threeher life The Outsider had done it all for the boy Obviously children were cherished here as well, but she couldn’t take the words back

She wasn’t sure why she cared He was a killer Scarred Covered with signs of violence What did it matter that she’d been insensitive to a murderer?

"You’ve killed before, haven’t you?" She already knew the answer Still, she wanted to hear hi that would take away the queasy feeling she got every time she remembered what he’d done to those three men

He didn’t answer He never answered, and she was tired of it Sick of his quiet, watchful eyes "How many men have you killed? Ten? Twenty? Do you keep some sort of count?" Aria had raised her voice to let some of the poison out He rose and moved to the threshold, but she didn’t stop She couldn’t stop

"If you do, you shouldn’t add Soren You didn’t kill hih I know you tried You shattered his jaw Shattered it! But ht your nuh a clenched jaw "Do you have any idea ould’ve happened if I hadn’t been there that night? And yesterday?"

She did And here it was The fear she’d pressed back Of those men, who’d seemed friendly but who ate hu alone, searching for gliht way in the dark She was lashing out recklessly but she knew the true source of her anger She didn’t trust her own judght kill her

"So what!" she yelled, scra to her feet "So what if you saved ood person? Saving one person when you kill three others? And bringing these things forto me? It’s not an honor! This shouldn’t happen I’otten what you did to those hed bitterly "If it et either"

"You have a conscience? That’s touching My "

He crossed the distance between theht into furious green eyes "You know nothing about me"

She knew his hand was on the knife at his hip Aria’s heart pounded so hard she could hear it dru in her ears "You would’ve already done it You don’t hurt wo there, Mole I have killed a woht be the second"

A choked sob burst through her lips He was telling the truth