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"Yes," she breathed, relieved and strangely titillated by the thought of such a proposition "Would I be normal after?"

"What do you mean?"

"What will I be like after? Will I still be me or will I be a little wild? Will I lose control and try and kill so to feed off of everyone?"

He tilted his chair on its front legs towards her "You think you’ll be a monster"

"Yes," she croaked out, horrified by the possibility

"No You will be you Aria I’s, but you will be able to control the hunger, and you will not become a bloodthirsty lunatic"

She couldn’t help but chuckle as she shook her head "I didn’t think I’d be a lunatic but how can you be so sure?"

The chair clicked against the floor as he leaned back again "Because we can all control e do, and because Xavier has assured me that the others he knows of, did not lose their o off their rockers, and were in fact as normal as any other va?"

"There are s about Xavier that I don’t understand and will never know but I do know that, annoyingly enough, he’s never wrong about the histories that he speaks of"

"I see," she ht he was going to kiss her, but instead he picked up a piece of apple and handed it to her "Eat up; you’re going to need your strength We have a whole week out here together and I have it in lared at him, not at all pleased when he chuckled, kissed her forehead and rose to his feet She bit into the apple though as he grinned at her "I have to return to the palace for a bit There are soone long, and Jack is here in case you get bored or want to go for a walk"

"I’ll be fine," she assured him He squeezed her hand and turned to walk away "Braith, I know you never wanted to change me before, but do you want to now that there is a better chance I will survive?"

He froze in the doorway, his hands grasped hold of the frame as he shuddered but didn’t look back at her "I want to do whatever e you"

She opened herthis would make her happy but the words froze in her throat She couldn’t shake the niggling fear that she wouldn’t survive, and though she craved nothingthe years of happiness they could have if she simply remained human

He waited for a minute more before his shoulders slumped and he slipped away from the door Her heart ached for the torment she felt within him No matter what he’d said in the past, no matter what he said now, she knew that what he wanted most was toherself to put one more bite of food in her mouth The front door opened and closed as he left She’d never felta piece of bread as she tried to sort out the ju away fro the black cloak by the door, she swung it around her shoulders and opened the door The crisp air hit her, winter would be arriving soon and for the first ti to death

Jack was already on his way up when she stepped onto the porch He stopped when he saw her, his head tilted to the side "I’d like to go for a walk," she declared

His eyebrows shot into his hairline, hispeople around your highness?"

She scowled at him "You don’t have to come with me"

"Well thank you for the permission to stay behind"

She clasped the cloak round behind her "I’ a jerk, she knew it, but she felt like a tightly coiled spring about ready to explode "I just need to get out for a bit"

"I can help with that" Though he was s, it didn’t reach his eyes; eyes that came alive when he was truly happy She slipped her arm into the one he offered her and walked with him down the ramp

"The house is beautiful Jack, I love it Thank you"

He pat her hand ratitude "Yeah, well I was bored After all the excite to keep me occupied"

"I’ in coh the trees and deeper into the forest It wasn’t until they were almost there that she realized where she had been unconsciously leading them the whole time