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Unshed tears made Gillian’s dark eyes shine “You haven’t seen much, little one”

Bron shook her head “I’ve seen enough to know I love you very much”

Gillian hugged her, a tight embrace “And I love you You understand that whatever I did, whatever reason I did it, I have come to love you, Bronwyn I would place you first now”

“Why did you do it?”

Gillian sat back, taking a long breath “I thought if I saved you, you could bring the kingdoether I intended to talk to my father and marry you off to my brothers”

A part of Bron was offended, but it was the childish bit that clung to shadowy vestiges of her former life She was more practical now “I was only fourteen at the time I’m not sure I would have made a decent wife”

“You would have been brought up to be an Unseelie princess I would have seen to it, and your brothers would have been welcomed They would have had a place until such time as an army was ready We weren’t always two tribes, you know”

It was radical what Gillian proposed “That was thousands of years ago”

“I knoasn’t trying to unite the crowns, ht far too often In the end, it will make us vulnerable I’ve studied this plane called Earth They are a little like the va, they don’t understand the way the planes work anymore They do understand what it means to conquer Think about vampires without any ties to other planes When the humans discover our secrets, I doubt they’ll be content to leave us be We will need each other Whether it’s toether if we’re to survive”

Gillian always thought ahead It was, she claimed, the mark of a true leader

“The huh “Is that why you were here in the first place? To negotiate a e?”

“I tried to negotiate a e between myself and your brothers,” Gillian ad, just as you are I could have bridged the kings But your father had already selected a bondmate”

Bron’s nose wrinkled “I think if Cian had known you were trying to push Maris out, he would have sent her over the edge of the moat He couldn’t stand her, and she hated hi a mate who hated on

e of her proposed husbands You would have been a better choice Do you think they bonded?”

Gillian’s mouth turned down “I’ve heard rumors”