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When she sahat he had brought her, Claire began to sniff She reached for a steaain in the chocolate shake Shoving it in her ood"

"There are no raspberries on premises They will be acquired shortly," Shepherd explained, assunancy moment

Sniveling, Claire du into thewhat to Shepherd looked absolutely disgusting as if it were manna from the heavens By the ti on the planet, her brief blubbering was over and she felt much better

Wiping her mouth, Claire looked to the man who'd observed her meal It was obvious Shepherd wanted her to thank hi apparent and obvious that she had requested specifically All those other s outside of mere necessity, never made requests aside from demands of freedo his hospitality But this meal she had blatantly stated she desired, and he had delivered it, though it was clearly soe language it was al there was a new precedent and that he wasan effort

Looking down at the re melted mess on her plate, Claire took a deep breath and breathed it out "Thank you"

The tray was scooted aside before a large hand came to her face and turned it up His thumb rubbed away a missed smear of chocolate, Shepherd very pleased "You are welcome"

She did not want to look into those impossible eyes, but he held her in thrall Claire was lost as shethings he'd done of which she hoped never to learn Why did he have to have a tragic history that haunted her sleep, and how had he becoer of Thólos's apocalypse?

Why was she even thinking of all that shit?

Shepherd gave her ti in her confused expression as she confessed, "I dreamed of your Undercroft, and I was trapped with the prisoners reaching forraped like you said"

Elbow resting on the table, he cupped her cheek and purred, "It was only a dream You are safe here and will never endure the Undercroft"

She sniffed, lost in the quicksilver changefulness of those damn eyes "What's it like?"

Unsure exactly how much he should disclose, Shepherd said, "Dark, cold The prisoners eat the e syste As a child, an inmate told me those tunnels span the entire continent of Antarctica They go on for ages; you walk and walk, and never find a way out But you do find the bones of others who've gonethe paths only to die from lack of water or starvation"