All That Is Precious
“Stop
this.” I put myself beyond his reach, rather than continue to
fight. His breath is rough, the shake in his hands a signal of
intense pain. “Are you that anxious for death?”
“At
least then I would be with Marcus.” He stops, biting the words off
sharp enough to draw blood.
The
confusion I had put aside, rises. I thought I knew the challenges
that would face me. Persuading a westerner to honor our traditions.
The risk of bringing him back to High Green. But there is something
else here. Something deeper that separates us. “Marcus?”
“The
man you killed.”
I wipe
my fingers across my forehead to ease the ache. “It was not my
intention to take his life. And he will be rewarded in the next
world.”
“That
does not bring him back.” He glares at me, anger and grief dug deep
in the lines of his face. I remember the way he held the third man
from the skitter and my breath sticks in my throat. “You're
samapenya.”
He
shakes his head. “I don't speak Kanai.”
I pause,
trying to find the right words in Alatiera. “It means...
same-loving. You will make a poor husband for me because the man in
the flying thing was your lover. Because I am a woman.”
He
flinches, but nods. “Yes, girl.”
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