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"One more?"

As Tohr returned his attentions to the silver tray of food, No&039;One wanted to decline the offer Indeed, lying back against the pillows of his bed, she was stuffed

And yet as he shifted toward her with another ripe strawberry held by its fluffy green crown, she found the fruit was tooher lips, she waited, as she had learned to wait, for hiht red berries had failed tobeen set aside on the edge of the tray The same had been true for some of the slices of freshly cooked turkey, as well as parts of the green salad The rice had all passed h bread rolls

"Here," he ood one"

No&039;One watched hiularly focused on her consu and a source of fascination She had heard of ht of her parents in such a ritual, hertable, hilass and cup afore it was sent in her direction by him personally, rather than by the staff - provided the food was of high enough quality She had assumed the practice was a quaint holdover from some earlier time Not so This private space here with Tohres such as that In fact, she could i freshly killed and doing likewise

It made her feel protected Valued Special

"One ain

"You shall make me fat"

"Females should have meat on their bones" He smiled in a distracted way as he picked up a plump berry and frowned at it

As his words resonated, she did not take the in any fashion How could she, when he had done nothing but pick through perfectly good food and weed out what he did not think orthy enough for her?

"A last one, then," she said softly, "and then I "

He tossed the berry aside with the other rejects and snagged another, and whilst he all but growled at the poor thing, his stomach let out an empty howl

"You runt she got back was either grudging approval of the second berry or agreement - likely the former

As she bit down and chewed, he rested his arms in his lap and stared at her mouth as if he were prepared to help her s if he had to

In the quiet ed since the sue body now absolutely mammoth And yet he had not swollen up unattractively, hisof fat upon the to the eye in its proportion His face had reer drawn, and his skin had lost the gray pallor she had not recognized until color bloomed anew in his cheeks

The white streak remained in his hair, however, evidence of all he had been through

How often did he think of his Wellesandra? Was he as yet dwelling upon her?

Of course he was

As her chest ached, she found it difficult to draw breath She had always had sy up when he was in extreh, she had a different kind of agony behind her sternum

Mayhap it was because they were closer still now Yes, that was it She was co with him at an even deeper level

"Done?" he said, his face tilting to the side, the laentle kindness

No, she rong, she thought as she dragged another breath in