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Kylar was co up the steps He and Elene had finished a roo out where peoplehim by the hand Vi felt his anticipation and disbelief He probed toward Vi, but sheto Sister Ariel, the weaves the theth required for the time required that was difficult Plus, Sister Ariel allowed, it was probably eht Vi could probably maintain them for twenty minutes

Sister Ariel could probably withstand the emotional tax forever The words Bitch Wytch , but they didn’t have the force they used to After all, it was Sister Ariel who had done all the research tosorry?

Layer upon layer of , and in ht for two reasons First, Kylar stopped, bewildered, as he was leaning forward to kiss Elene as they sat on the edge of their bed Second, Vi could tell that he stopped leaning forward as he sat on the edge of his bed Whatever Vi was doing toher own

Panic hit her,it hard to breathe, but Kylar didn’t feel it She could tell he didn’t feel her He wondered at the absence and then joy spread through him like a fire He pulled Elene into his arms and kissed her passionately

It was hard to breathe Vi could only choke out a series of curses to keep theShe’d kissed men, of course, and had dozensshe could be as numb there as below, but it was part of her work to kiss convincingly Feeling Kylar kiss Elene was so different It was fresh and innocent and full of rejoicing Then it deepened, and Vi felt Kylar’s surprise at the ferocity of Elene’s passion He fell--was pushed?--back onto the bed, and she settled on his hips Then he was kissing her again, fu with the ties of her dress

Vi cursed desperately, locking her eyes open, rubbing the wool across her forearm It helped, a little, but Kylar’s joy and free desire still lived in her head Elene hed Vi could hear it through the wall, but as she felt it, she knew she’d never heard Kylar laugh like that Maybe Kylar had never laughed like that in his whole life It was playful and free and accepted and accepting, a joy wild and strong and content This was the Kylar Elene had always seen, and with a pang, Vi knew Elene deserved hih the bond that it ached, and Vi realized that of all things, Kylar was talking to Elene

"Put him in a bed chamber with a naked wo her Talent "No wonder he’s still a virgin" It was too bad the weaves weren’t harder, because she needed the distraction Elene was scared, Vi realized, and e here in this roo by her side, his left ar her while he spoke soft assurances and sloakened her passion

Vi had fucked so ht she knew prettyabout sex But Kylar and Elene, in theirshe never had Their loveer than itself There was no aardness even in their fument

"Oh, fuck ht Whatever Elene was doing, she was either naturally gifted or Kylar was extreh the bond was overwhel Vi’s cheeks felt like they were on fire

Then Vi felt Kylar’s rin--dammit, it felt exactly the same way it looked--and his own pleasure faded into the pleasure of pleasuring

"You bastard," Vi said "I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you" When Vi fucked, she put on a persona like alove as a whole man Every aspect of himself was present--and Vi knew then that she loved his about Kylar frorin in Count Drake’s house She’d admired how he tried to leave the way of shadows, how he treated Elene and Uly She appreciated his excellence in fighting She’d felt a twinge of infatuation long ago--but then, she’d once been infatuated with Jarl, as homosexual In the past month, she’d even cos weren’t love Perhaps she never would have knohat love was if she hadn’t talked so much with Elene, and if she hadn’t felt it daily in Kylar’s feelings for Elene

Soasped Her eyes widened The ic almost escaped her, and only her fear of ould happen if it did helped her regain control She scrubbed the wool against her arm--fuck she hated wool! "Dead babies Bearded wo you can braid it Moon blood The smell of the Warrens on a hot summer day Unwashed whores Vomit Dead babies Bearded women Back hair so--oh shit!" Vi bit the wool and held onto the ic for dear life

A few ic as a deep sense of ease and restfulness and well-being and intimacy and peace with the entire world rolled over Kylar The rabbed the pitcher of wine and drank froin, Kylar Were a virgin I don’t think I could’ve handled that forat apparently the same time Elene did: Kylar was still aroused He asked a question, and Elene’s ansas unmistakably and passionately affir hands Pleasure arced through Kylar again

Oh gods, it was going to be a long winter

73

As winter slowly faded in Khaliras, Dorian arrayed his army on the plain north of the city to face the invaders fro snow that their feet churned into freezing slush Every breath steaainst battle in such conditions

The wild ht bravely, but their only tactic was to overwheled, they fought , Khaliras had never been taken by the brutes, though a few ti Garoth had always said that the wild men had proportionally more Talented men and women than any people in the world

The armies faced each other as the sky turned fro Wanhope’s lines were only three deep, arrayed over as much of the plain as twenty thousand men would stretch The wild men’s army dwarfed his, and stretched much further and more thickly There was no way Wanhope could keep the his are block that the men shunned If Dorian’s reports were correct, he faced twenty-eight thousand krul, and even more wild men

Three-to-one odds Dorian s past him, and he saw a thousand deaths Ten thousand

"Milord, are you feeling well?" Jenine asked Dorian hadn’t wanted her to have to see this, but he’d been counting on Jenine more and more, not only for her advice, either