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She beaht word that you were held prisoner here We were told that they would not release you until Pareigis was set free"
Colvin’s eyes widened with panic "Is she free?"
"No, she is still prisoner Deliberately, I think I used the orb to help o and was caught in the storm"
His eyes crinkled orry "How are you even here, Lia? How are you standing? When I left you…how fragile and weak you were You could not walk Yet I see you standing before me and I marvel at your recovery" He pulled back frorasped at hers The warers sent shivers down her
"The Abbey healedShe had never felt so flustered being near hi at her, the attention "Muirwood has always s there are powerful"
His eyes suddenly narrowed, as if she had said so that pained him "They are, I am sure" A blackness came across his face "But they are not as powerful as this place" His hand squeezed hers hard "Lia, you cannot stay here Of all places, this is the ht you here, if anyone learned that you are a er"
"I understand a great deal of the danger," she replied "Which is why I came to free you There are no mastons left in Dahomey, I fear If they would destroy rateful you have been preserved"
His smile was bitter "I am preserved because of Marciana I had heard she was bound on a ship for Dahoripped her shoulders and lowered his voice more softly "This is the place where the hetaera make their oaths This is the place where they are trained in the Mediuht…they are unbearable This place is awful beyond is I have heard…the rituals that exist here You remember the Whitsunday fair? How the Alderht here I am forced to watch it, Lia I ae And even this refuge is not safe There is a lavender who is assigned to me She is a hetaera, Lia Every day she wheedles at ave me before I left, I cannot tell you how much I value it I see Dochte Abbey for what it truly is The encounters here are no coincidence Every person who speaks toto wear me down, to make me violate my maston oaths Every oath Every one of them They do not want me dead, Lia That would be a mercy They want me to join them They want me to forsake my oaths as they have That is what they want from ers pressed hard into her shoulders "They would turn you, Lia They would turn you into one of them You must not stay"
The look in his eyes terrified her, but she strengthened her heart "Why is it that you have not succumbed, Colvin?"
He see he was probably hurting her with his grip, he looked abashed and drew his hands away from her shoulders while he unclasped his shirt collar of the velvet jerkin She noticed in the diht the pattern on the fabric, the ribbed shoulders, and golden threads and intricate buttons going down the front He unfastened several buttons and then withdreine necklace with a ring The firelight flashed on its surface and she thrilled at seeing hi it between his fingers "This is what saved me" He stared into her eyes "I have worn it since I left you Every day I could feel it against s of the Mediu about threatened to confuse me The Dochte Mandar are powerful, but they cannot subvert your thoughts unless you let the I could survive in such a place as this Your ring is the only way I have escaped succuratitude and waret you out of here Do you knohere…do you knohere they are keeping Ellowyn?"
He shook his head "They restrict my contact with her The Aldermaston here – he is corrupted I have not revealed to hi everyone sub will happen to those who do not after Twelfth Night It is fitting, though Twelfth Night is the celebration of the advent of winter, of the twelve days before the darkest day of the year Every day the sun is getting shorter and shorter I dread the Blight will come soon after"