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For Colvin Price, the Earl of Forshee, never ca

Lia wrestled with her eh she had determined in advance to master them The Bearden Muir was different, yet the sa, thick withover Jon Hunter’s grave, she fought down the urge to sob, to screao It was a year since his death, a year since that awful Whitsunday fair A year wearing hunter boots, hunter leathers, dealing in a hunter’s errands She bit her lip, willing the memories to dull, the emotions to fade Jon had died because of her

Leaves and brush choked the slen where she and Colvin had buried him beneath a pile of rocks Had he died at the Abbey, his bones would have been interred in an ossuary and laid to rest with the Alder stone the Aldermaston had carved, a stu, silent She and Martin had finished digging a small hole for it at the head of the rockdirt in to fill the gaps Their mule would have an easier journey back to the Abbey now that its weight was gone At least the beast was relieved of its burden Lia wondered if she ever would be

"He was a good lad," said Martin sternly, brushing his hands together He sniffed and griain, you and I In the next life In a fair country where no knaves can do him harm Where no blood is ever spilt" He stopped and wiped his nose, but his eyes were dry and full of fire He brooded with anger constantly, his teeted with the leather bracer tight against her forearm "I will be ashamed to face him"

He snorted "Did you loose the arrows that slew him? No Did you murder mastons and spill their blood? No, by Cheshu! There are debts we all owe, Lia But you owe hi for what happened You paid your fair share in reco his work, which he can no longer do himself"

Lia closed her eyes The memories were still bitter "If I had known then what I kno Thethe swarabbed her arer jabbed near her nose "It is a cruel fact, child Wisdom comes after the moment when it is most needed I have warned you of the doo times Failed to act e should have acted Instead, ere crushed, our princes butchered like hogs So what have you learned from this journey? Hmm? If you were Jon in thatwhat you kno"

"I do not know, Martin," she answered, jerking her arrip

The blue fire in his eyes blazed hotter "You do know"

"He trained with you for er flushed her cheeks, but she kept it fro to her voice "What do you want ain "Only the truth He was a hunter, yes He was trained, yes But you know as much as he ever did I have never trained a boy orall the little insects in the wood You know them all and remember it the first tihts, but she could not in ti of the Mediuhtened others how quickly she knew things What they did not knoas how the Mediurit her teeth, because she did not want to speak it

"Say it, Lia!"

Her body tre with emotions She was afraid of the truth Which was perhaps the very reason the Aldermaston had sent her back into the Bearden Muir to settle the Leering and face the past

Martin stepped even closer, his nose poking up at her Even though she had grown more the last year and he only came up to her chin, his force of personality towered hers "Say it, Lia Cast out the shadows you cringe behind Say it"

Her voice was barely a whisper "He was careless"

"Careless? Yes! Can you taste that word? It tastes like ash in your ht you this when you first started to train with me? The hunter is patient The prey is careless" He stor his boot in the muck He spat "An elk returns to the same place of water because it is the place of water A patient hunter waits in the bushes Waits until the elk is thirsty That way, he has a clean shot The closer he gets, the better aier on his forehead then pointed to the mound of stones "He was careless"