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“I make demands,” he said in an honest tone “I believe you accept theo and chase after your friend Michael in the woods and end up broken and battered when you’d agreed to stay inside your cottage You take a stand against fifty demons and try to kill a fire wraith, when I’ve explicitly told you to stay in the village”

She opened her mouth, likely to defend her actions, but he silenced her with a look

“You take the oath of a de full well it’ll send e”

Her expression turned remorseful

“And you accept e in keeping the villagers safe”

“No,” she quickly interjected “I wanted to accept that proposal froe I ain I wanted to marry you There are no ulterior motives there I just… I needed validation that it would work”

She shook her head, as if that answer didn’t fully encompass what she wanted to say “I know I shouldn’t have to feel the need to give anyone a reason for my choices But ere secretive, for theapproach fros for you froardless of whether they approved I should have been upfront, and it was ayou”

Jade lifted her hands as though in surrender “I know I appear impulsive and re

ckless But I do think about my actions”

Darien didn’t say a word

She said, “The trouble I continually encounter is that what I do is driven by demon encounters I had to try to protect Michael when he left e I had to divert the fire wraith froround the first time he injured me I had to take Walker’s place because there was no one else to do it—and I possess the skills And I had to follow Tanner to the border in an effort to stall the deh for your scouts to reach you and for you to return with an army”

Her hands moved to her hips and she raised her chin a notch as she stared up at hierous situations But that could change for ether, as you’d asked me to do”

He shoved a hand through his hair His gut clenched

Of course, he did not want a partner who lived in fear and cowered in a corner He wanted a wo about her appealed to him, even if she did repeatedly create internal strife for hiet so worked up if he didn’t have such powerful feelings for her But could two strong wills unite?

He said, “There’s one thing I haven’t shared with you yet It can change everything about us from this moment on In a positive way”