you to know that you alone have merited a royal envoy as escort.”

Ishvari swallowed drily; she longed to ask just why he called her ‘Little Goddess’ and whether he was in league with the omniscient god of the valley, but his proximity paralyzed her tongue. Lord Kushal studied her wretched face with wry amusement. “Take my advice,” he said, patting her scrawny thigh. “Leave the past where it belongs. Brooding drains the vital energy you will surely need to face the challenges that lie ahead.”

She stared down at her dusty feet, the hellishness of recent times coming up in a sudden rush of feeling. Ashamed to let him see her cry, she buried her face in his cloak.

“Sometimes just being alive hurts,” Lord Kushal remarked crisply, turning her chin...

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