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    Loyalty has its limits, she mused, especially when the man you’re saluting once strangled his falcon for flying too high.


    magnificent? Such… presence.” Her nails dug into Ella’s arm like talons. “They say he’s seeking a devoted companion to ease his loneliness.”


    adores charitable work! Why, reforming a grieving widower would be her life’s calling!”


    Eyes like a frostbitten pond, she thought, and twice as welcoming.


    rewarding.”


    clatter snapped Ryan’s attention away.


    This one writes poisonous little essays about court corruption. I want her.”


    fragile since her mother’s passing. Why, just yesterday she fainted at the sight of…”


    tragically his men perished in the north.”


    kill you,” she whispered.


    that barbarian?”


    Let Ryan scheme. Let Chloe gloat.