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Bile rose in his throat as he re her as a woman for the first time He shook away the memory—lest I murder her
For centuries, he’d vowed she would be worth all his pain He craned his head up at the trunk of this tree
Never forget
SIX
Lanthe woke to the feel of her sto as her body tu to latch onto a limb; her ar! The drizzly fog was so dense she couldn’t see as below her—
She landed with an ooht her in his ars held theht she’d just spent in the tree, his body was a hot haven War some of her alarm
Yesterday she would’ve sworn she could never sleep with a Vrekener nearby But apparently, she’d been out
As rain softly fell, his gaze roa other than rage, she sed Though she was loath to adht be the bitterest necessity, but his instincts were doubtless screa hi to happen A: She didn’t do males she hated Just a rule she had And B? She was in the fertile time of her infrequent Sorceri cycle, could all but look at seed and get knocked up
She had to trust that he wouldn’t force her She wished she could probe his thoughts, reading his mind, but her collar prevented it He’d probably developed aze was drawn behind him, and her lips parted
While she’d dozed, he’d clawed slashes into the tree The marks were all around the sa the trunk
She’d bet there were roughly five hundred slashes, one for every year he’d gone without his h crazed azed up at this one ary eyes
She recalled the things she’d told hihtn’t to poke the bear so s, he seeht had been cathartic for him “You’re one to speak of insanity, when your line is tainted with it”
Had he found out about her mother, Elisabet? Or just assumed this because Oaze “I don’t knohat you’re talking about”
“Untruth,” he grated “Tell me another, and I’ll throttle you” He shot into the sky
“Where are you taking me?”
He headed north away from the coast back toward the island’s interior Or maybe he headed south East?
He didn’t answer her question, asking one of his own: “If you believed yourself to be targeted by Vrekeners, why not communicate with me in our few encounters?” He sounded almost normal
“You always looked murderous I couldn’t be sure that you weren’t on board with their plan to out and out kill me”
“On board to murder my fated mate?” he said, as if she’d spoken nonsense
“So you’re saying you had no idea that ere targeted?”
“I knohat you’re trying to do, and your divisive tactics won’t work I sought—and received—the sacred word of Vrekener knights that they would visit no harm upon you or your sister I will always believe that over the accusations of someone like you”
“You made them vow that?”
“I kneell that Sabine’s death would destroy you I wanted revenge against you, not against a broken shell of a e their situation today “It happened, Thronos Whether you want to believeNo doubt, typical Sorceri paranoia Your kind are notorious for it You probably mistook a Volar demon for a Vrekener”
“That’s the other reason I never tried to coe, Thronos didn’t reply He just scented other ie of the island
Earlier, when he’d finally picked up the vessel’s scent, he’d begun cutting across a forest to reach it, which was proving to be more of a risk than he’d expected
He needed to concentrate on their escape, but now that he was thinkingMelanthe’s words frohtmare all these years? Why would she fear when a cloud crossed the sun?
Unless she’d actually been attacked
“Why did you say that abouttainted?”
Melanthe didn’t know this, but Thronos had briefly met her mother when he was eleven And it had scared the hell out of him “I’ll answer as soon as you ad of co me when I was in Rothkalina?”
“You know that deuarded by are to a letter station at one of the portal gates”
“What should I have written? Dear Harlot, rumor has it that you are very happy with your new life in Rothkalina with your beloved brother Oold you could ever want, and I kno y Well done, Melanthe! By the ould you like to meet for a rational discussion about our future?”
“Well I did have a lot of gold”
Do not strangle her!
In aout the sole true detail about your pretend letter Oh, and you should knowif you keep calling e blackout, and then I’ll wake up to find you—awfully sadly—dead”
“You threaten me? A powerless, physically weak sorceress?” he sneered “I must amend my treatment of you forthwith”
“You’ve turned into a sarcastic, unbalanced, judgmental dick” To herself, she muttered, “Man, can I pick ’em”
“If you take issue with the term harlot, then perhaps you shouldn’t have slept with half the Lore”
“Half?” she scoffed “Three-quarters for the win!”
How could she sound so bloody uncaring, when he was insulting her character?