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She winced at that The one being she missed with all her heart was her father He’d loved her Cared for her And protected her frooneshe had no one Her siblings were petty and only wanted the throne or what they could grab from the queen’s treasure The other royals were not to be trusted And the unclai, Rhiannon Much too young to cut yourself off fro What your mother did to you was cruelbut perhaps we should see the good in it It forced you out of your den and into the world The world you’ll one day be queen of"

Finally, she looked Bercelak in the eye and said with all honesty, "Do you truly believe I’ll live long enough to be queen?"

Bercelak leaned back against the boulder he sat next to and placed his ar

"Why would you say that?"

"She wants me dead She’s alanted me dead Why do you think she sent me to you?"

Bercelak didn’t knohether to be insulted by that last statement or merely horrified "What the bloody hell does thatyour loyalty Once you Clai me back to her court in chains or to kill me"

"That’s not true" He shook his head He refused to believe that could possibly be true

"What? You think she sent ht we’d fall in love? That we’d look in each other’s eyes and have a beautiful and ain I’m in her way Since er, I was just annoying Now she despises ave hi look "She thinks of you as her pet A well-trained war horse Or soht in front of that dog, completely defenseless, and left me Hopefully, to die"

"And you actually believe I’d kill you on your mother’s orders?"

"No" She looked weary Exhausted "But I wouldn’t put it past you to try and break me"

"You’re not a horse, Rhiannon"

"I know that"

"Then ould you even think that?"

She let out a long breath "Your reputation precedes you, Bercelak"

His frown deepened "Nohat the hell does that mean?"

"Rumors of what you do to females once you have the"

He raised an eyebrow, even et it This conversation is getting unco, Princess Tell me what you’ve heard And I’ll tell you if they’re true"

"Fine" She stared hiht in the eye and he adored how she didn’t back down froht "Banallan the Gold said you kept her chained here for days"