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Briefly, but she noticed

Gavin could hear his imprisoned brother’s voice, sudden, sharp: ‘So you’d take this, too, huh, brother? Make love with her, as if you were me? You want to hear her scream my name when she’s in the throes of passion?’

If she were any other woman, he would force the ht now and let her decide She wanted to say no? Fine, to hell with her He’d move on Or, more likely, she’d say yes, and he’d bed her and leave her with a s

Karris was the only wo beside her in her roo that breast, caressing her body, talking as the dawn approached They’d ency and passion winning through the aardness of inexperience He had to be gone before her

They’d both known their romance was doomed, even then, even as the children they’d been "I’ll come for you," Dazen had proone--taken away by her father, though he hadn’t known it then; he’d thought she had betrayed him--and her brothers had ambushed him And he’d started the fire that killed them all: brothers, servants, slaves, children, treasures, hope

"I’ve done you ret every one of them I’m sorry"

He extended a hand to Karris, to help her stand He thought she was going to refuse for a moment, but then she took his hand, popped to her feet, and didn’t release his hand She stood close, but her proxie "Do you want to specify what you’re askingsecret, you asshole’ And slapped him

Which hadn’t actually clarified that much He’d kept a lot of secrets over the years, and whatever she thought she knew could be leagues away from the worst truth His central secret had necessitated all sorts of other ones over the years

And by secrets, I mean lies

So how cold are you, Gavin? How cooal? You’ve killed for it before Can you do it again?

They were hundreds of leagues away from the nearest Chromeria spy If Gavin told Karris the whole truth and she swore to expose him or ruin hiht, she’d have a fair chance against hi had ainst a Prism

"I’o of his hand She claaze "It’s not an apology if you won’t take responsibility If you can’t even na You will not buy absolution on the cheap, not after what you’ve done Not from o

"Let go, or swio

Damn woht Damn her!

But he couldn’t kill her, and he knew it He’d let the world burn down first

She picked up the luxin tube he’d been using to place charges and handed it to hies should finish the channel," she said "But we’ll have to hurry to get it done before low tide Then we can work on the seawall footings"

They worked until there was no longer enough light in the sky for Gavin to draft Karris steadied the boat, andwithin the lines they’d planned

The seaould actually be three seawalls, with tide gaps: one for ships co The channels through the coral that led to the openings zigzagged, the turns marked by buoys If they came under threat of attack, the locals could reht He’d learned sohtwater Wall, but there he’d also had thousands of workers and dozens of drafters to help hie for the Color Prince

Well, second time’s the charm He would leave this for the people of Tyrea--now his people--and he would do a few other things to give the a city Then he would leave