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She moistened her lips "Where does Mirela sleep?" she asked, changing the subject

"Outside with the others I’m sure you’ll meet them, too They’ve been curious about you"

"Curious?"

"Yes You’ve only shared your name with us, after all"

"I only know your naher in silence "If I didn’t know any better," he began slowly, "I would think you’re being evasive with ers against her te--which would be accurate

"You still can’t reot into the river?" he pressed

She lowered her fingers fro her head "No I don’t remember" Her voice faded as an idea seized her

It was so si the shameful truth that her own husband would rather kill her than keep her as his wife And there was the very real concern that if Owen Crawford knew her identity he would turn her over to her husband What did she know of hiht not believe her husband did this to her A murderous duke--it was far-fetched even to her ears Bloodsworth was a powerful ed with her husband and insist on returning her to his clutches Fear clawed at her throat at that prospect No, she could not risk telling anyone who she was

"Anything? Your fa how plausible he found her lie "Ino, nothing It’s all nothing Just blank"

After a long hed softly "I’m sure it will come back to you In time"

She wished she couldn’t, in fact, remeht?

"Get some sleep for now Mirela says you need rest the , she let her head fall back down on the pillow Rest wasn’t all she needed, but for now she would settle for that She would rest, heal, regain her strength

And then she would figure out what came next

Chapter Six

Mirela lifted the tray frorunt "You ate al, I see"

Annalise patted her stomach "I tried Still don’t quite have ood stone less than when he first dragged you in here" Mirela nodded a head toward the wagon door as if he stood out there somewhere Owen The man she knew so little about Except that he had saved her

It had been alht to find Owen Crawford sleeping beside her bed A week since they’d spoken and she claimed memory loss Since then, he’d kept his distance and talked not at all He continued to sleep in the wagon with her every night, only entering the confines after she had fallen asleep And he was always gone before she awoke

"Who is he?" she asked Mirela, realizing if she wanted to know anything about the elusive ht be her best source

Mirela looked up at her sharply "You ask ht you here"

"I was out of my head with fever--"

"And you’ve been awake for several days now Why don’t you ask him your questions?" She waved a hand in the air "You are his now I told hiht that you knoho he is"

Her cheeks burned with scalding heat "I am not his!" What utter rot "You did not tell him that, did you?"

The elderly wo revelation "Not that he put much store by it"

"Of course he didn’t! It’s utter nonsense" Annalise pressed a hand to her burning face

"He saved your life Without him, you would be dead" She held her hands out in front of her and laced her fingers together, interlocking theether now Threads in a tapestry"

Annalise stared at those gnarled hands, the locked fingers A heaviness built in her chest It was not true The woman possessed antiquated principles She owed Mr Crawford her gratitude Nothingconnection between them He scarcely spoke to her

If she was bound to anyone, tragically, it was Bloodsworth As much as she was loath to admit it, in the eyes of the law and before God she had bound herself to the evildown on her, smelled his brandy-laden breathheard the echo of his words Little cow, I’ht to the bottom

She sucked in a deep breath Her fist knotted in the blanket covering her lap as if she could crush the ree and ed to nohest bidder--she saw that now Not her husband And not soer who scraped her up off the banks of the river She was her own independent woman and would be solely that from now on She would recover, heal, and carve a new life for herself somewhere far froray eyebrow lifted in silent inquiry Annalise, shaking her head slightly, forced a tremulous so family member set within the cupboard