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“There” Sheover his chin “Much better”

Possessed by a sudden and nearly irresistible iain, he reached instead for the cloth to wipe away the reood man,” she said “I’rew up in a place where everyone hated hiht and die in service to the Order But you’re right, he was a good er life and a better death”

“Why did you coone now, her tone merely sorrowful “You detest this war, I can see it Your skills, like mine, were not meant for this We are supposed to serve a Faith that defends against greed and cruelty What are we defending here? What did the king promise or threaten to force you to this?”

The impulse to lie, to continue toin secrets as he had for years, was only the faintest whisper now, a nagging sense of stepping too far on an uncharted path, easily overridden by the need to tell her If he couldn’t hold her at least he could find some comfort in confidence “He discovered my father has become a Denier The Ascendant sect, I believe Whatever that is”

“We leave our ties of blood behind e give ourselves in service to the Faith”

“Do we? Did you? Your compassion was born sost those beggared people you try so hard to save Do we ever really leave anything behind?”

She closed her eyes, face downcast, unspeaking

“I’m sorry,” he said “Your past is your own I don’t mean to…”

“My aze, a harsh unfa her tone “Finest dipper the quarter ever saw Hands like lightning, could have a ring off a er quicker than a snake takes a rat Never knew my father, she said he was a soldier, lost to the wars, but I knew she done soht me, y’see, said I had the hands for it” She looked down at her hands, the deft, slender fingers clenching “I was her darlin’ little thief, she said, and a thief never needs to be a whore

“Turns out I wasn’t quite the thief she thought I was Fat old rich ed to corneronstick when my mum knifed him ‘No-one hits my Sherry!’ she said She could’ve run but she stayed” She crossed her ar herself “She stayed for ed her the next day I was eleven years old

“After the hanging I sat down and waited to die Couldn’t steal any more y’see, just couldn’t And it was all I kne to do No rey robe asked if I needed help”

He couldn’t recall standing or pulling her close, but found her head was on his chest, breath catching as she fought down tears “I’, lifting her face, a s “I’ainst his

“You taste,” Sherin’s tongue played over his chest, “of sand and sweat” She wrinkled her nose “And you sled a little, raising herself up to kiss his cheek before pressing her nakedness against hi”

His hands played over the slih of pleasure “I had heard that one had to be experienced at this to find it truly enjoyable,” he said

“I heard that true devotion to the Faith would blind er this ti his lips “It appears you can’t believe all you hear”

They had lain together for hours, ent whispered intie visitors The wonderful, electrifying feel of her against him, the caress of her breath on his neck as he rief and the guilt and knowledge of aited beyond this room, for noas, perhaps for the first tiht of daas filtering through the shutters on theand he could see her face clearly, her smile of serene bliss as she drew back “I love you,” he told her, fingers tracing through her hair “I always have”

She nuzzled against hi over the hard muscle of his chest and belly “Really? After all these years apart?”