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Lia’s heart was haed herself, but it was not the cold thatall boiling and seizing inside her at once She could only nod for hio on, unable to trust herself ords

Colvin looked down at his hands again, as if asha to a blind fit of passion As a maston, I have made oaths that I will not break I value the presence of the Mediu you this? My head says I should trust you My heart is nearly bursting with the words" He looked up at her again, his lookyou Disappointing you Now Ithe words The poets always could But that is not my way" He looked away, she could see the frustration by the clenched jaw muscles She wanted to reach out to him, to comfort him, but she did not e power over me, Lia No one else has ever impressed me so deeply In your presence, I have been my worst self as well as my best self I have retched all over you I have shouted at you, scolded you I have wanted to clamp my hand over your mouth more than once But I dare not touch you, because when it happens, it et who I am and what I want to be When I was a learner at Billerbeck, there was a girl who tried to win me, despite my efforts to shun her I aood fa But I did not care for her My heart was secretly longing after Deh I did not knoho she was" He chuckled darkly "But now that I do know her, I cannot love her She is too simple Too biddable"

Colvin looked her in the eye, his rave "When I care for someone, it runs deep It becomes a firm part of me, like a stone When I awoke in Muirwood in your kitchen, when I saw you peering at s that I had never experienced before They were so powerful and so overwhelht it irl who had found one and was using it to control my emotions When the Medium obeyed you and you lit the fire, I believed violently that I was right How could a wretched be so strong in the Mediu as you But the thread around your neck only concealed a ring, not a kystrel I wanted to be away fros were so i The way you savored life…even s" He laughed at hi of you Inthat first bite" He leaned closer, his hand resting near the orb…near her fingers "I do that myself now Every time The flavor of apples reminds s in ether The hed in frustration, squinting at the light coh Your very presence here tonight is a torture and a comfort to me Part of ain Never That I cannot live without you being near me But at the same time, I knoe cannot That if we are near each other, it will cause irreparable harm to us both All my life, I have had duty prescribe to ht now, s compel me to tell you that I love…" he sed, his voice thickening, his eyes seeking hers again, "that I love you That I have concealed it from myself since you sheltered nize what the feeling was then I thought I hadaway I let myself believe that when I returned to Muirwood, I would be able to control row to only love you as as sister I have failedyou this – not noe are alone in the mountains But we are not alone It must be the Medius" He stared into her eyes deeply, full and unguarded at last "To trust you with a erous secret To trust you withback We cannot be together, Lia But I had to tell you how I truly feel And trust that you will not use it to harm us"

He had said it Lia was so relieved to hear the words…to understand she had not been i she would savor his confession for the rest of her days It brought a strange feeling of cal of safety and warmth