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Lyon scowled For long minutes, he paced silently, his face hard, his ahts

Skye stood there, waiting for his acceptance of her gift She could help Paenther, she knew she could But he had to give her a chance

Lyon finally stopped and turned to face Paenther "She’s a Mage witch, BP A witch who’s already de power over our animals If she’s not what she pretends to be and seizes control, or uses the power she draws to incapacitate us, she could destroy us If the Ferals go down, Satanan wins Are you positivepositiveyou can trust her? Without a shadow of a doubt?"

Skye clasped her hands in front of her, waiting for Paenther to tell them what he’d told her That he loved her Of course he trusted her

But the roo with an o at all A chill stole over her skin

Slowly, she turned and saw hi her with a myriad of emotions in his eyes But the only one she felt, the one that drove a stake through her heart, was the doubt

He’d said he loved her How could he love her when he didn’t even trust her not to betray hih her chest, tears burning her eyes

He didn’t love her He didn’t even know her if he thought she could ever willingly betray hiret laced Paenther’s voice But he didn’t try to stop her

With a sudden, desperate need to get outside, she ran through the house and out the door, into the yard She stood in the snow, holding herself tight, tears slipping down her cheeks as she shredded the foolish dreams she’d woven in her head since the moment Paenther told her he loved her She’d let herself believe, hope, that his loving her would change everything That he was finally able to look past what she was, if not quite forget

He’d said he loved her If he loved her, he should trust her, shouldn’t he? But he didn’t He couldn’t

Because of what she was

The cold wind froze the tears on her cheeks, the chill seeping deep inside, spreading a spiderweb of cracks across her heart

I love you, Paenther I can help you But I can never be other than what I am

Paenther stared out the here Skye stood, creatures flocking around her Dogs and deer, squirrels and cardinals, they went to her, pressing against her, seeking her attention Offering her comfort

But for once she didn’t touch thee them Her arms wrapped around her middle as if she didn’t even know they were there Never had he seen anyone look so alone And his heart broke He’d done this to her He’d caused her this pain

"I hurt her I doubted her"

Lyon had demanded his promise that there was no chance she could betray theive it, uts Ancreta running toward hiown torn, her cries tearing at his heart And the way Foxx looked at Zaphene, poor lovesick Foxx with his starry eyes, head over heels in love with a Mage witch who’d spun her web over hihly he’d killed Beatrice, his Radiant, without ever knowing he’d done it

For one horrible ain, snared by a witch’s web of ic How could he risk the lives of his e witch?

But how could he doubt Skye?

Lyon caround, I’m amazed you’ve been able to trust her at all"

"I do trust her, Roar I can’t always get past what she is But I knoho she is She’s one of the purest souls I’ve ever ather around her, Lyon murmured, "They say animals and children see the heart of a person There’s a lot at stake here, BP, but we don’t havefrom Kara, it’s that sometimes you just have to trust your heart"

"I trust her with my life, Roar If my life were the only one at stake, I wouldn’t hesitate"

Lyon clasped his shoulder, drawing his gaze "You’re my second for a reason, BP If you trust her with your life, that’s enough for et hiic Then we’ll head out to the goddess stone"

Paenther felt the weight of the world on his shoulders And at the sahtness of spirit Goddess, he loved her What was more, he knew her

He clasped Lyon’s shoulder in return, then turned and hurried out of the room

Sometied to Skye

Skye stood staring into the woods, unseeing, as the ani a coive Tears continued to skate down her cold cheeks, but she couldn’t stop the over and over in her heart

She felt rather than heard Paenther approach He walked too silently for her ever truly to hear hi his hands on her shoulders fro was, she couldn’t bla cautious when so much was at stake It was her own fault, and the fault of her foolish heart, for reading too much into his declaration of love

He turned her to face hiaze, not when the tears refused to stop But he pulled her into his ar into her hair as he lifted her face to his With eyes swiret, he brushed away her tears

"Don’t cry, Beauty" His face dipped, and he kissed her without hesitation, without doubt, with a fierce tenderness that claimed her, body and soul A kiss of possession Of declaration Of promise

Finally, he pulled back Shaken, confused, she kept her eyes closed and clung to his waist, not even re for him

"Look at me, Skye" As she looked up, his hands rose to frame her face "I trust you, little witch With hed "Paentherit’s okay I understand You have a lot of reasons not to trust a Mage"

"I do You’re right" He stroked her jaw "But you’ve never given me any reason not to trust you"

Her mouth pursed ruefully "Other than the fact that I enthralled you and captured you?"

To her amazement, a small smile flickered across his face "Other than that I love you I trust you because I know you I’ve seen the goodness in you fro such beauty of spirit could possibly have been born a Mage I trust you with hed and pressed his forehead to hers "Trust comes hard for me And these men are my family My brothers Until you, they were the whole of le" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>