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"Do it Dare you to! And don't let a branch hit your ass on the way out"

"Oh, this is just great!"

"Oh, aye, this is 'juice grett'"

He pointed his forefinger at her, opened his , then snapped it shut "I will no' watch this," he finally grated, before loping off

Chapter 18

Alone, Mari lay dazed by what had just occurred She'd thought they were going to ht because he desired her Not because he desired to inate her

Or try to MacRieve had to have his little test, because for whatever reason, he couldn't look at her, hear her voice, and be near her and know she was his

What in the hell would it take for soht she would keel over in shock if soot to know her, and then, based on her personal merits alone - not matehood, or whatever - said, "No doubt of it You are the one for me"

And ould MacRieve have done if she didn't conceive after repeated attempts?

Left me, that's what

That realization really blew, because nohen she thought of her future back in New Orleans, away fro him in it

She brushed another tear away Damn it, as it about her that made her so disposable?

37

Sometimes Bowe could tell in an instant when a memory would be as clear in a thousand years as the day he experienced it

When he returned to the campsite after a hard run, he knew the scene before hih even an iround, and soft rain falling, he found Mariketa lying on her side in the lean-to, one are spider luarded it with brilliant, mirrored eyes Her lips were a deeper red than he'd ever seen the apples lay half eaten beside her She looked like that preternatural reflection he'd seen in the water

- Be wary -

Those o in dense layers over the lean-to, as if defensively, and the entire platfors, snakes, deermoat In the canopy directly above her, territorial howlertheir limbs with owls

In the witch's current mood, she seemed to attract theot chills, shivering even as he sweated after his run, and still part of hie over there and comfort her