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"No thanks needed" She bustled about, ladling huge a up under ot ot a barn outside with a nice warot some blankets you can take up there; that should keep you cosy for the night"

Even though I didn’t fancy a night in a barn it was just so nice to be treated with so kidnapped and thrown around "That sounds perfect" I sratefully as she put a bowl of stew and a cup of ale before me I shared a happy look with Wolfe and we broke bread, scooping the stew up as if we hadn’t had a decent es And to be honest we hadn’t The old as aled betweenus scoff it down, seeain

After our bellies were full we sat with her for a while, engaging her in conversation that we so her eyelids droop, I suggested we get so over soood night and turned to ascend the stairs to her own bed

The barn wasn’t huge and e clilanced at one another It was certainly cosy I flushed at the thought of being in such close quarters with Wolfe Not saying a word to one another, we spread the blankets out and then carefully sat down next to one another I could feel the heat fro e flipping thing again

Finally I couldn’t take the silence "So, you’re quite a powerful Glava?"

Wolfe tensed beside o back on his word and not tell me all I wanted to know

"Well?"

He exhaled so heavily I al him about it

Not badly enough to stop "Wolfe?" I placed a tentative hand on his ar down at it there Those eyes of his lifted up slowly until they were stuck onmy hand away fro my attention back to his face "I hid it"

"But why?"

He shrugged, staring off into the dark rafters ahead of us, his jaw taut with suppressed eic meant I was like my father"

That vulnerable sentence reached out to me to take me by the shoulders and shake et this sick feeling in ?

"Kir… Kir said you were as much a victim as him and I What did he mean?"

Wolfe’s eyes slanted towards aze I knew he didn’t want to tellhis proood person I would have reached out and told hi However, my own selfish need to discover the real Wolfe do

"My father…" his voice cracked but he refused to look away "He didn’t treat me and my mother very well As you know… he was a cruel man"

Ice crawled across my skin "What did he do to you?"

"Mostly ames to make us feel inferior, subordinate But when Haydyn’s father was dying - when he died - as you know things got worse For us as well"

Thick silence took over, robbing me of my voice In truth, I wasn’t sure I wanted to knohat Syracen had done to Wolfe It was one thing for a ers, but to hurt your own flesh and blood…?

"He uh… he horsewhipped my mother a few tiony Kir had gone through To do that to your oife "And that scar… the horseshoe?" I didn’t really want to know, did I?

A bitter, twisted little chuckle escaped Wolfe and he shook his head "Imy father when he took the whip to my mother Kir helped me because my mother was kind to him My father beat Kir… but me… he took a hot horseshoe to and branded me He told ed solely to him and as such he expected me to obey hi My chest flared with sharp, needling pain Hot tears prickled in my eyes, and I couldn’t speak, uilt All these years I had been horrible to hi him with the same brush, so sure he would want to hurt h I helped Kir escape"

So that explained their camaraderie

Kir knew Wolfe better than I had Why did that hurt so htly Wolfe must loathe me for the way I had treated him The pain sharpened in my chest and I was afraid I couldn’t breathe Suddenly, I was truly afraid Wolfe hatedout and rolling down my cheek I brushed it away ihtas I lost ht it, rubbing it softly into my cheek I was so aware of him… so close to , an?"

I nodded and then shook my head stupidly "I’m sorry"

"Why are you sorry?"

"Because he hurt you Because I’ve treated you terribly because of hiht you detested eance forSyracen killed"

When his touch left ain but I was also thankful he didn’t I could breathe easier when he wasn’t so close

Right now his broas deeply furroith thought "That’s why you’re snotty with me?"

Snotty? How dare he-

I shook it off, amazed by how easy it was to become irritated with him I threw hiement The corner of his h atit across his mouth in concentration And then he nodded "I think I understand But you should know I felt nothing but relief when he was killed My ed that day, for the better"