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He nodded and reached for the door, opening it quickly Ian and Agnes stood on the porch, locked in a tight, desperate embrace

When he stepped onto the porch, they slowly drew apart Agnes gave Ian a last, lingering half sh his

Together, silently, they walked down the sagging steps and across the soft layer of ne Still silent, they cliloved hands and urged the horse forward

The wheels whined in protest and slowly began to turn, crunching through the snow

For a long tines, and when he finally did, he wished he hadn't She sat hunched and shaking, her chin tucked protectively into her chest They hadn't gone inning to wilt

It broke his heart to see her pain

She was the only real family he'd ever had, this asn't a wife, had never really been a wife They weren't lovers, not in the physical sense of the word, and not even in the emotional

It was a how the realization freed him For the

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first tines She was his family

His friend She had always been there for hiht her to the sterile world of the Believers, she'd always been there A stolen look, a little wave, a tired s him by her very presence

But what had he been to her? Her protector, her savior Not her husband, never truly her husband

He loved her, certainly But not the way she deserved to be loved Not the way Ian loved her Elliot had never felt honest sexual desire for her-or if he had, it was so long ago, he couldn't remember He wanted her for the same reason she wanted him So they wouldn't be so alone in the world

Only she wasn't alone anymore

The driveway forked up ahead One road led to the huge, iron-scrolled gates, which noere silvered with frost The other led back to the house