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"Last night, you said nothing about on

"I said that you would earn your passage, and you agreed to do so," Sterling reht - "

"Which was a mistake" He leaned close to her "First rule in the world outside the protective care of which you are accusto realization in that &039;s silver eyes, she saw his resentment toward her "You don&039;t likewho I aed "It is the way of the world The way of this world anyway Do you think any of us here are welcomed with open arms wherever we travel?

"No," he answered for her "We are sneered at, laughed at, accused of any petty theft that occurs while our wagons are caed because we are different Why should we behave any differently than hoe&039;ve been taught?"

Ready words of defense did not spring to life upon her tongue Elise knew she had reacted to the people outside as most would, certainly most of her station She&039;d been afraid and leery of the than she illing to give herself?

"Tell me about them"

Her response brought an unguarded look of surprise to his handsome features A moment later he scoffed, "You don&039;t care about them All you care about is your own probleed

He settled upon his cot and ran a hand through his long hair "Wish that I could Unfortunately, humanity only sees what is first visible to them They seldoht truly lie beneath Philip was born in Paris Born with the mark of the devil, or so his parents believed They took hiasped

Sterling nodded "A poor hag found hi at her doorstep and took hiic She raised him as best she could, but she was old even when he was born Once she died, the townspeople burned her shop Philip was left with nothing, except a loud voice and a talent to juggle He joined a troupe, saved hisshow"

"And the others?" Elise settled beside him

"Philip found Iris and Nathan, they are the small couple, on display as freaks in a circus in Europe He took pity on them and asked theh I suppose because being laughed at for acting silly is easier than being laughed at because they are different"

"Their daughter, Dawn, is lovely," Elise said

Idly he plucked at the sleeve of his shirt "Yes, and Nathan and Iris love her and try their best to do right by her But Dawn is ashamed of them It breaks Nathan&039;s and Iris&039;s hearts to have their own flesh and blood turn away from them in shame"

Elise sed a sudden lump in her throat "Doesn&039;t Dawn realize how lucky she is to have parents at all? And ones who love her so?"

His silver gaze s until they have them taken away"

She wasn&039;t certain if he referred to the loss of both of their parents or if he ret her decision to run away fro

"What about theprovided "Taylor Kindhearted to animals, which don&039;t see his defor as he takes proper care of them He&039;s the only one besides myself the cats will allow close to them"

"The cats?"

"Leena and Raja I will introduce you to theh her "No introduction necessary"

He laughed "See, you also judge the them"

"Tell me about the woman, Mora" She noted the distaste in her own voice

"Mora is a strange one," he said "Mysterious She says she is from the East, where she once lived the pauerite, the dancer who ran aith a uerite once confided tothe harem A ploy to narrow her coripped Elise&039;s heart "You ed "Who knows? As I said, she is mysterious She seldom talks about herself If I were you, I would keep my distance from her"

"What about the other woman?"

"Sarah Dobbs, and the stinky fellow is her husband, Toh she is not truly blessed with the sight Her husband, Toons when they break down and has a skill with crafts Sarah discovered some time back that if she dressed like a Gypsy and told people what they wanted to hear, she couldin a factory"

"Oh, I see," Elise clipped "She deceives people to earn her way"

"I prefer to believe that she entertains people to earn her way," Sterling said dryly "But that is the difference between your thinking and s us around to the reason I wanted a private ith you" Elise rose froree to perfor indecent, to earnrose as well "I knew Philip would not allow you to stay unless he saw so so" He stared down at her "We all pitch in to do our share of the work You are unnecessary unless you have a talent Can you sing? Perhaps play asuit She could pound out a tune or two upon the piano, but certainly that wasn&039;t an instrument she either was in possession of or could easily cart around with her

"No," she admitted