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"I&039;m not! I&039;m safe here with you" She sidled up to him on the end of the pallet

"You&039;re no&039; real" He ripped at his chest again "You died"

She clutched his ar yourself! I&039;m real, Garreth I&039;m here"

He reached out to touch her face, yet then he closed his hand in a fist "Nay, I hurt you with that sword I-I killed you"

"You did no such thing!" She caressed his wet cheek "You could never hurt s He made you believe you&039;d harmed me, but you couldn&039;t The Instinct wouldn&039;t let you"

"How do I know I&039;s now?" He shook his head hard "How do I know I&039;m no&039; still there?"

She could tell he so desperately wanted to believe But he would have to doubt his own ht happened was nothing rasped his face "You&039;re here with me in Kinevane Believe this, believe in us"

He heard her words as if from a distance, had dreaether Harried, aggressive sex over and over Until this last time, when he&039;d made love to her

And then had co hiht

Now Garreth couldn&039;t distinguish as real or illusion For days, he&039;d slipped deeper into the abyss, convinced he&039;d murdered the only woed him to spare her life

Noas supposed to believe that Lucia was in his arms, warm and safe She expected him to accept that the woman he wanted more than life had coht now

He yearned for it with everything in his being, wanted it sohimself "I saw your body How can I no&039; believe that was real?"

"Choose ht now, choose me and believe this" She wrapped her arainst his neck He buried his face in her soft hair

Choose her? Could he be i the exquisite scent of her hair or how she treainst him?

If this is a dream, then I never want it to end

He clasped her shoulders, holding her before him "Lousha, I&039;ll always choose you"

"G-Garreth, your eyes they&039;re turning golden" She gave him a watery sods, I thought I killed you" He hugged her tight to hiht I&039;d lost you forever" He held her for longher in his arms "I have to have you - canna live without you"

"I&039;ve got you back now, Scot" He felt her shuddering, too "And Cruach&039;s dead He&039;s gone forever"

Garreth barely reod, had only brief flashes of h "How? The dieumort he destroyed it?"

She pulled back to face hiave ht proble the dieuods were so resistant to this Annika will have to decide what to do with it"

"You should have told me about Cruach"

She curled her knees to her chest, sitting against the cold cell wall "I was ashain and N&iu her aruised hiht I&039;d ever wanted I was so young, and I believed I was in love"

A spike of jealousy burned in Garreth&039;s gut - I want her love She should love me!

"I wouldn&039;t see reason I left Valhalla hat I thought was a young man named Crom"

"Why would your parents no&039; help you? They&039;re gods, right?"

"They forbade me to wed him and forced ain Once I&039;d broken the covenant, they were forever unable to help me" Her eyes were stark "Even after I was trapped with Cruach in that lair"

That had been the vilest place Garreth could ever have iirl, captive to that monster? How terrified she must have been "How did you escape hih cliff overlooking the ocean I jumped I hit the water, mostly, but was tossed upon the r-rocks"

Jumped Which meant she&039;d been driven to kill herself

Lucia was studying his reaction Could she tell how his rage was building? Or how badly he yearned to punish that fuck for ever laying a finger on her? Garreth&039;s claws flared - to slash through his neck onceblue"

"Go on, Lousha"

"But - "

"Tell in had followed iven up everything to go after me, because she&039;d sensed Cruach was evil She rescuedto let me die"

"She saved you?"

Lucia nodded "For days, she dragged me across dimensions Then she basically dropped oddess, &039;Fix her&039; Though Skathi knew she&039;d bestow her archery skill with the life force necessary to save ifts, I had to make concessions Just like the rest of her followers, I was to be as untouched as she was And I was to become Cruach&039;s jailer"

"What did he do toto die Lousha, what did he do to you?"

I&039;ain, Lucia realized with dread, and just when I&039;ve gotten hi him with this tale And she knew in this critical tiht drive him directly back to the solace of the beast

"I have to know, Lousha You canna keep secrets fro I&039;ll never tell you, but right noith all that&039;s happened - "

"I ave hi, Scot It was bad I&039;ve never been in savedti I should fear, and yet I wanted hih I still had to run from him, I secretly thrilled every tiether he and I found a weapon to killthe world Yet nohen all my trials are done at last, and I can finally look forward, he wants to look back"

MacRieveher face in his palh to face those trials, he should be strong enough to hear of them"

"But he doesn&039;t know that I plan to spend eternity with him" She leaned up to kiss his stubborn chin "He&039;ll have plenty of ti aboutAt this moment, I just want to start my life with him"