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“As your property”

“Let’s just use the ife”

Tally shook her head frantically She kneas being deliberately provocative, baiting her, torry with her less than enthusiastic welco to bend and she wouldn’t break “It appalls me that you would force me to marry you It appalls me that you’d be so barbaric and heartless”

“You’re not that appalled You knoell enough now to know that I don’t say one thing and do another If I say I’ve claimed you, I’ve claimed you and twenty-four hours apart, or seventy-touldn’t change anything You are al”

He could fix this He could ht, or at least make it better He kne to soothe her, comfort But he wouldn’t He’d be a brute He’d be insensitive and unfeeling “I won’t marry you out of duty If I married you, it’d only be out of love”

“And you don’t love me”

Her eyes burned, her heart on fire Did he love her? Did he feel that way for her? Was he taking her out of pride? To prove a point? To show that he’d conquered her?

“No, I don’t,” she choked, eyes gritty, throat sore as she tried to s around the lu air

Expression dark, dangerous, lethal, Tair rose froht hand says you do love me”

“My right hand has been hennaed by a gaggle of giggling older woht hand knows not what it says—”

“I think it does”

“Well I know it does not”

He shrugged, supreht hand—along with your heart—that maybe it should learn to like ether”

“Forever”

“Eternity”

“I get the concept,” she snapped, glaring at hiood With her heart thuet control of her eue But she knew she must She knew she couldn’t let this happen, knew that if Tair said he intended to marry her tomorrow then he intended tohe said, he did Which so did not bode well

Not for the future Much less now