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She sht with aht And the night before"

Whatever she saw on ot a wee picture o’ ye kissin’ a fine-looking specihty fine"

I felt the heat of indignation "Wolfe is anything but soft," I snapped

L grinned mischievously "He yer man, then? Yer betrothed?"

Like a thirteen year old I blushed, shaking my head "It’s complicated"

I was rewarded with a scowl "I can be keepin’ up"

With a weary sigh, I went on to tell L about my family, about what Syracen had done to theht Wolfe had been after revenge How I had recently discovered what Syracen had done to Wolfe That Wolfe had feelings foron them was a betrayal of my family I talked irl in so little ti her interest and her sympathy

Still, when I was finished, she scratched her cheek and said gruffly, "Well, I isn’t no expert on these here things but froettin’ things a wee bit backward"

"Backward?" I puffed out of breath, glowering at her back L turned around and caught the look She chuckled at my expression and reached down to pull herself up the suddenly steep incline of the mountain

"Well yer parents tried to protect ye, told ye to run They died for ye basically"

"Yes," I replied through clenched teeth, hissing the ‘s’

"Well that be sayin’ to ood folks They just wanted ye to be free and happy"

I frowned, wondering at the direction of her point, and if she was ever going to make it "Yes?"

"Well if this Wolfe man – haha, wolferent expression "Never mind If this Wolfe makes ye feel free, makes ye happy, don’t that all that be matterin’ to yer parents?"

"But his father killedwith his son would be a betrayal of their ht yer parents an, and ye saved Wolfe and his mother from a life o’misery at that evil-doer’s hands And this Wolfe person, he sounds like he be an upright kind o’ fella And don’t he be some kind o’ nobility?"

I swept the sweat off runted "Lass, ye be gettin’ yerself a rich man That’s every parents dream," she joked

When I didn’t respond, she threw me a wicked smile that transforiblets with yer Wolfe, then?"

I frowned, searching hed at an?"

I rolledred despite myself "No," I bit out

L sobered quite abruptly "Ye a maiden then?"

"Yes Aren’t you?"

"O’ course"

I nodded, having expected as an…" she stopped to freeze ot to ye? Is that hoould have wanted it? Raped and abused by a stranger in these here ht and true with the man ye love"

I felt cold Stu off the ice she’d created insidethese here an, it be life is often harsh… and always temporary Don’t run from love because ye lost soback the eed to respond, "Is that what you intend to do, L?"

She threwback up thelove likein L’s practicality I had been since theto make sense And with Wolfe, I didn’t want it to make sense

"My plan wasn’t to marry – ever"

She snorted at that "My plan for this as to show Jnr how to be layin’ a trap without takin’ his hands off Instead I’m stuck up in these here mountains with the dumbest s overwhelmed by your kindness and charm"

"I try to leash the potency of the charrinned crookedly back at hter

By the third day, we had h the Alvernian Mountains with little iven us pause to worry but so far we hadn’t coic told me ere close Very close

It was un to plateau under our feet L suddenly drew to a stop as a new scent drifted by us in the wind It suess we be here" L smiled at me At my confused look she pointed in front of her and I walked around her, h the trees in front of ether we took off at a run, and burst out of the trees into the bright light Before us the grass at our feet slid doards a glistening lake, enclosed on all sides by higher ground A small waterfall cascaded down fro puffs and foam to rise in the water Fresh lilacs and orchids blooe of the lake, interspersed with dewy plants and buttercups I stared in a place I’d ever seen