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"How long have you been doing that ritual for hiht?"

"Yes"

"That’s why"

She stared at his on his wall There was so about her, a sudden brittleness thatould make her shatter

And he knew

"He hurt you anyway, didn’t he? When you were young" She didn’t react, and he didn’t push "You don’t have to tell me, Skye I just want to understand you better"

Slowly, she turned back to hith Sheto comprehend him instead

"Why do you want to understandnice to ht? She didn’t have to say the words for him to hear them

Paenther pushed away froainst the wall, crossing his arms over his chest

"You’ve been a contradiction to ht siren with the sad eyes who led me into the woods, took entle witch as beaten bloody for not forcing herself onthat you weren’t like the other witches I’ve known That you were innocent That’s why I couldn’t hurt you, even though the part of e wanted to"

He looked up at the ceiling, re ache "When I saw the cuts, Skye" When he looked down, he found her watching him with an odd combination of wariness and tears in her eyes "When I saw the cuts, I knew ht be, you were every bit as ed you without knowing you I saw the copper rings around your irises and expected the worst froet it, I chalked it up to enthralled "For the first ti, Skye I want to knoho you are And I’ll try es of wariness in her expression softened She brushed away the single tear that had escaped her eye while he spoke and aze "The first time he raped me eeks after he took me from my mother"

Goddess "I’m sorry" He suddenly wasn’t sure he wanted to hear this after all, but he wouldn’t turn away froed her to talk to him "Why did she let him take you?"

"She tried to hide o with hiers into her hair and raking it back "Going with hi I wanted" Her words were hot and vehement "I don’t kno he found out I was an enchantress, but he just showed up one day I detested hiht Even then, I think I sensed he ithout a soul He told rabbed s attacked his were all outside"

She wrapped her ar into herself "He killed her with his ed one slender shoulder "It was probably a good thing It told ht, the leader of our clan, the archsorcerer, told o with hierous to attempt to cross But after I went to bed, my mother cairl a couple of years before in the neighborhood on the other side of the woods and had played with her a couple of tiht hide aze with remembered fear in her eyes "But I was afraid Birik would destroyAnd he would have, I know that now So I hid in the woods by the house that night so er herself When o"

She turned her head, pressing her cheek to her knees "I don’t know if ave me for that" Her voice was soft and low, as if she were speaking to herself "She was so upset"

"She forgave you Whether or not she understood why you did it, she never blamed you, Skye She only wanted to protect you"

Skye lifted her head to look at hiliht I don’t know if I saved anyone in the end My entire clan ain?"

"No I never heard from any of them They disappeared fro back, but I don’t knohere they are"

She pulled her knees closer to her chest, her eyes taking on a faraway look "After we left ht me the chant and the dance of the enchantress that raised h I didn’t like dancing without clothes on It was too cold, but he insisted I be sky-clad Then he took me outside and told ht, I think it ry that I could call them so easily when all he could call were snakes But he selected a beautiful doe and her fawn, and we led them back into the cavern I was happy I’d been scared and lonely, and the creatures co theht"

His stohtered them in front of you"

Her mouth compressed, and she nodded "I went crazy I refused to dance I tried to run away, but he beat ed me back to the ritual cavern, but I refused He tried one thing after another to punish me He ripped me out of the plush little room his people had prepared for me and locked me in the cell where you were chained Then he took awayht, he’d had it with ed me all the way up the stairs to the roo up my bare back But I still wouldn’t do what he wanted, so he threw me to the floor, followed me down, and raped me Then he ordered the sorcerers to do the same, one after another, and they did For hours"

Paenther’s scalp craith horror at what she’d endured Fury pounded in his ears, his teeth bared as he i every one of those bastards apart with his panther’s fangs

"After each rape, he toldthere, watching ave in"

He stared at her, in awe of her courage, her sheer deter"

To his amazement, she smiled It was a small smile A lopsided one that didn’t reach those sad eyes, but it was a sht I chopped offsince For all his power, he couldn’t make me dance, and it infuriated him He chained me in that cell, like he chained you, and usedit would stop when I danced Finally, one of his sorcerers ca it in your heart like that could have killed you"

"I was of no use to his were With the cantric in er between hiht" She closed her eyes on a shudder