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Simone had hoped that Korvel knew more than how to translate the code, but it seemed Cristophe had kept his word "My father said the scroll was a test of loyalty" More like a cruel joke

"Yet you have repeatedly risked your life to protect it You even asked Gabriel to kill you And while ere on the ship, you told me that it led to a cross Just before you said you’d been ordered to kill me"

"You should hate reen mark on his throat "My father believed that scars are the reminders of our failures, but you never try to hide yours"

"It has marked me for centuries," he adallows for weeks, first fearing that I would die again, and then terrified that I would not The scar reminds me that whatever is done to me, I can survive it" He folded her hand in his "Si?"

Her heart died a little "You have the scroll Your mission is completed"

"Yours isn’t Even now, I can feel the tension in you As if the o of you, you’ll run out of here" Before she could reply, he touched his fingertips to her lips "When you’re ready, you’ll tell ht for Ireland?"

"That depends on you" He ran his hand up the length of her arm before he caressed her cheek "I want you to come back with me Come and be my kyara My mortal wife"

Joy and despair tore at her insides "I’m not fit to be a wife to any man"

"Not even the man who has shared your dreams?" He shtlands? About the game you played here in the flat? You could have that life with me"

"That was a child’s pretense"

"We could make it real," he said as he stood up and set her on her feet "I have just come home fro a little desperate now

"The stand closed early" He leaned back against the door "I still want a kiss froht her bottoe of her teeth as she crossed the distance between them and put her hands on his shoulders "This is foolish"

"No, love," he said as he bent his head to hers "All night I’ve thought of nothing but you I’ve counted the hours until this ether and I could take you in my arms" He pulled her closer, but held his mouth a whisper away from hers "I will show you what I have for you, and I think you will like it more than flowers, but you must kiss me first"

She slid her hand to the side of his neck as she balanced on tiptoe to put her lips against his An instant later she moved back to separate their mouths

Korvel kept hold of her "Why do you stop?"

"I can’t" She pressed her brow against his chest I don’t know…The man in my dreams was never real He never came home"

"I’m here I’ainst his chest "Kiss me"

"I can have sex with you, but I don’t kno to kiss" She moved her palm until it lay over the slow throb of his heart "I wasn’t trained to do that"

He drew back "Trained?"

She nodded "When I was old enough, ht for a week"

Fury blazed over his features "He did what?"