Chapter 10: What the Bond Smelled

I stared at him.

"You smelled it."

"The moment the bond set," Torren said. "A bond opens everything. Scent, blood, the whole body of the one it ties you to."

"And you said nothing."

"I said a great deal."

He said it dryly, and something in his face twisted.

It was not a smile.

I took a step back.

"So the yard was for the ears," I said.

"Yes."

My voice went up.

"You could have told me! You could have said something!"

"I could," Torren said. "And you would have gone on healing, because you're a healer, until it killed them."

"I wouldn't have."

"Wouldn't you? An hour ago you asked me to lock you in a cell."

I opened my mouth, and nothing came out.

"There's a pair of ears in my hold," he said, more quietly.

"Someone told Ashfen when you would cross. Someone told them which gate stood open."

"Who?"

"I don't know. I haven't had time to learn."

I thought of the gatekeeper with his hat in his hands, studying the floor.

"If this hold had known I smelled wolfsbane on my mate, word would have gone south by dawn," Torren said.

"Your father would have known his plan was failing."

"And he'd have struck."

"Before you were well. Before I had a cure."

"So you lied."

"I used the cruellest thing I had, and I used it where the ears would hear."

He did not look away.

"If I hated you, they'd wait. If I hated you, nobody would touch you, and you'd touch nobody."

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