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“Just give me the truth.”
Tugging the hem of her dress out from under the toes of her boots before her next step, she sighs. “Yes, I suppose the truth will serve us best.”
I see now that the dress is too long for her and I make a mental note to –
“I had a lover for a time.”
My thoughts splinter. “Youwhat?”
She arches a brow. “I had a lover. I’m twenty-one, Luka, not twelve.”
I force my feet to keep moving even as my hands curl into fists with the absurd need to pulverize this so-called lover. “When was this?”
She has the nerve to laugh. “Two years ago, my deve. There’s no need for your jealousy.”
“Jealousy?” I sputter.” Surely you jest.” Though any other plausible explanation is elusive. “Anyway, what does this lover have to do with learning how to handle a bow?”
“Oh, in exchange for my favors, I asked him to teach me.”
Something catches in my chest.In exchange for her favors?“I thought women only did that kind of thing for love.”
Gazing down at the ground, she shakes her head like I’m being silly. “If only the world were a gentler place.” She leans over and picks a stem of long grass, twirling it between her delicate fingers.
“But it’s not.”
“No, it’s not. Love never entered into my bargain with Roland.”
I huff with disgust and she pins me with a suddenly hostile look.
“I wanted to be able to defend myself.”
“You don’t have to justify your actions to me.”
“No, I don’t,” she slings back. “So you can keep yourdisappointmentto yourself.”
“What?”
She tsks. “What was that reaction, then? Horror? Revulsion?”
“Why would I be horrified by your intelligence?” This woman makes no sense. “You used a situation to your benefit. That’s to be commended not condemned.”
“Then why the –”
“Would you stop? It’s the sordid details of your lover I don’t need.”
Her face pinches. “What details? There were no details.”
“His name is definitely a detail.”
Her tetchiness morphs into disbelief before finally landing on . . . smug.Smug?
“Youarejealous,” she exclaims.
I snort, but inside, my stomach flips. “No. I just have no desire to hear about a man who needs totrade thingsto entice a woman into his bed.”
“Oh, we never used a bed.”
My temper flares red-hot now. I’m on the verge of letting her have it when I catch her lip-twitch in my periphery. “You’re toying with me,” I say incredulously.
