Kingdoms

ter successfully biting and swallowing a blueberry. "We need a plan. How do we convince your parents to let you come with me?" She had been sho

state the obvious, that there are more than a hundred guards in the castle to keep you safe, Keep you safer than I, just a man, ever could?" She bit back the urge to groan. he was right and she knew it, even though she hated to admit it. "They Athanatoi will come, they will. And they'll come for me, who's to say someone in the castle wouldn't sell me out?" "They would say all in

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hear him. The queen sat quietly beside him watching both Jasper and Hannah, before finally speaking, "Asher, why can't she?" "Why can't she? Why should she? Do y

eel that way. She hated being the negative one, but how was she to feel in a situation like this? "We tell them..." It was Jasper who spoke now. "We simply tell everyone that the princess is with an ailment, that requires her to be quarantined." "And no one could come near me! Jasper, that's genius." She shrieked, finding her voice. She wanted to run to him and hug him but restrained herself, instead she looked at her parents. "And I would be the one who takes care of you. No one would really question that, they would see a mother caring for her daughter." Anastasia turned to her husband and brushed a hand affectionately across his cheek and when he turned to her, she saw the pain in his eyes, one that mirrored her own. "It is the right thing." She said, He nodded once and turned towards Hannah and Jasper. "I will keep her safe and I will bring her back. and when it is time to face the Athànatoi, when they final

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." The words were muffled as he placed his head at the curve of her neck, filling himself with the warm scent of her scent her- vanilla and cream. He wrapped his hands around her waist, and his heart was warmed. He was slipping, he knew it. But God knew, he couldn't help himself. She released him, giving him back his sanity, and he let her go. "We leave a week from now?" She asked him, her eyes set, her regal chin up, her back straight. Ah, there she was, he thought. The way she quickly found her composure both settled and unnerved

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y presented themselves. She couldn't think about him without being winded, how was she going to spend each day with him? She began to wonder if it truly was a wise choice she was making. And as those doubts presented themselves, she was filled with new understanding. She couldn't know, not f

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be carried; tents, a few change of clothes, feminine supplies she was sure would make jasper wince, a pouch of gold just in case, some cakes she'

now short hair in a little ponytail. She had almost wept while chopping of

greet the elderly man and was d

hed and felt tear

er eyes. He looked to Jasper, who had watched them silently, then back to her. "The good Lord's blessings follow you both." They both Said 'Amen.' “ Take care of her,” He said to Jasper, as he released Hannah. Jasper could only nod, he