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Looking over his shoulder, he murmured, "Ready for your story now?"

Clara nodded, du all over his inked back Fox bent his knees and crashed to the floor, presenting hi hard "Can I--I want to--"

Fox clenched his fists, digging thehs "You can I’ll tell you which to touch, and I’ll tell you the story"

A large smile broke her face, then she frowned "Is it all sad? I don’t know if I want to listen to sohed softly "Life is sad, little one It’s full of heartache and bittersweet hope, but you areYou are my happiness, so remember that when I tell you"

Clara reached out to touch

My throat dried to a husk as Fox muttered, "Go slowly Start at the top"

My hter away This was the worst possible place for her to touch him Weapons lurked in every corner, a fire billowed beside theeon her and burn all evidence in a ers treently laid a hand on the base of his neck where a Celtic-like knot had been drawn

Fox said, "That one--that’s the sy his throat "Once upon a time, a boy as born to royal blood strayed too far froht he knew best Their castle rested on the edge of a mystical forest where bears and wolves played in the snow The little boy explored for hours, searching for them, but he didn’t find any bears or wolves But he did find so else"

Clara dropped her hand to the next tattoo, willing Roan to continue

Roan

I’d slipped and thought of hier circled an angel bowing over a sword across her legs with three words in a circle "That’s the el of death and our three proe, a curse, our destiny"

Fox sucked in a breath and continued with his story "The little boy found two uide hile when they shoved him into a van and drove for miles into the wilderness They told the boy his old life was over and to survive he must follow every rule without question"

The atmosphere in the room thickened with anticipation I sat forward on the chair, inching closer, ue out in concentration, dropping her hand to the next sy

"That one represents evil We were the weapons of righteousness Our only purpose was to obey our master--if we did as ere ordered, ould be safe from evil" His back tensed as he continued, "Years passed for the boy as he grew fro, exaiven and to pass he had to hurt his beautiful eous father, and talented little brother The boy was brainwashed every day He was told he was no longer human, but a Ghost whose job was to exterirls who lived with hiraduated The rest disappeared, stolen by the snow to never be seen again"

I winced asblood My heart thumped in heavy pain for all the children who’d been forced to kill All the children who’d been murdered by the sick, twistedinnocence

Clara shook her head in sadness My heart seized at the thought of her wrapping her arer Fox told his story, the further his voice sounded--sed up by the past It lost its intensity, drifting off into a soft, hypnotic tone

Clara dropped her fingers, tracing a pretty snowflake on Fox’s spine

He growled, hands clenching Clara lost her balance a little before steadying herself

"That’s the tattoo I hate the most It was punishment If we failed to do exactly what they wanted, they’d hts alone in the forest The once mystical bears and wolves I wanted to find were nowfor a tasty snack--" He cut hihth birthday in the pit The worst place to go if you disappointed your handlers Day and night with no shelter No war snow, or blankets to stop frostbite fro your limbs into ice The little boy hated the pit, and his deep-seated fear of the dark stehts Endless blackness only punctured by a weakyellow eyes of wolves"

Clara skirted over the Roht to a fla some of his recalled fear "When the little boy obeyed orders, he was allowed to work in the shtness of fire and his skills grew He threw hi hunks of metal into weapons of destruction--it was his happy place Despite the daily toils and gruesoot who he truly was and always reain, but he knew in his heart he wasn’t what they said he was It wasn’t until a fairy godht that he was able to find freedom"

What? Fox had been blind?

Clara whispered, "The last tattoo of the fox That’s you?"

Fox sraduated he was told to choose a code na he would ith honour for his achieveh to win in the end--wily and cunning like the small, red-coated fox It reminded the little boy of his mother’s red hair, and his father’s bushy moustache"