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A flash of light, and there she was

Shining Lysandra see as she swept a cloak around her bare body, the gareline hurled herself into the shifter’s areline’s shoulders shook, and Lysandra sirl’s head "You’re well?"

For all the world, the shifter would have seemed calm, serene But Aedion knew her--knew her ht tre torrent beneath the beautiful surface

"Oh, yes," Evangeline said, pulling away to beaht h, I mean She likes him better than me, because he sneaks her treats all day She’s fatter than a lazy house cat now"

Lysandra laughed, and Aedion s it herself, Lysandra murmured to Ren, her voice a soft purr, "Thank you"

Red tinted Ren’s cheeks as he rose to his feet "I thought she’d be safer here than in the war camp More comfortable, at least"

"Oh, it’s theLysandra’s hand between both of hers "Murtaugh even took , I mean You ht up against theatop the rocks, but Murtaugh said it was a trick of er than yours! And the house! It’s the loveliest house I ever saith a walled garden in the back that Murtaugh says will be full of vegetables and roses in the summer"

For a heartbeat, Aedion couldn’t endure the erand plans for the estate The pain of longing for a life that would likely be snatched away before she had a chance to claim it

Aedion turned to Ren, the lord’s gaze transfixed on Lysandra As it had been whenever she’d taken her hue to clench his jaw, Aedion said, "You recognize Caraverre, then"

Evangeline continued her , but Lysandra’s eyes slid toward them

"Darrow is not Lord of Allsbrook," was all Ren said

Indeed And ouldn’t want such a pretty neighbor?

That is, when she wasn’t living in Orynth under another’s skin and crown, using Aedion to sire a fake royal bloodline Little ain nodded her thanks, and Ren’s blush deepened As if they hadn’t spent all day trekking through snow and slaughtering Valg As if the scent of gore didn’t still cling to theeline sniffed at the cloak Lysandra kept wrapped around herself and scowled "You smell terrible All of you"

"Manners," Lysandra adeline put her hands on her hips in a gesture Aedion had seen Aelin make so many times that his heart hurt to behold it "You asked me to tell you if you ever smelled Especially your breath"

Lysandra s on his own eline yanked on Lysandra’s hand, trying to haul the shifter down the hall "You can sharechamber in there" Lysandra conceded a step

"A fine roo It had to be one of the finest here, to have its own bathing chaed to Rose"

His oldest sister Who had been butchered along with Rallen, the ic academy they’d attended Near the border with Adarlan, the school had been directly in the path of invading troops

Even before ainst ten thousand soldiers Aedion didn’t let hihter of Devellin--that fabled school How many children had been there How none had escaped

Ren had been close to both his elder sisters, but to high-spirited Rose most of all

"She would have liked her," Ren clarified, jerking his chin toward Evangeline Scarred, Aedion realized, as Ren was The slash down Ren’s face had been earned while escaping the butchering blocks, his parents’ lives the cost of the diversion that got hieline’s scars hailed fro the hellish life her mistress endured

Aedion didn’t let hieline continued pulling Lysandra away, oblivious to the conversation "Why didn’t you wake me when you arrived?"