Jade Fern Grove You assume I'm fine, but what would you do if I

Something flashed in his gaze as he made his departure, something that Wylla was certain was irritation. She met it with a flash of indignation—did he really expect something here, after all the times he had turned her aside and failed to show in any way that mattered to her that he actually cared? Men. She thought it coldly and venomously, with no trace of the humour with which many uttered the word.

Nevertheless, she caught herself taking several steps after him while a lump of desperation formed in her throat, and reined herself back, annoyed now with herself. He's just a body, she scolded herself, you can find other bodies if you need to. He's just a body and he doesn't love you like you love him, so it doesn't matter. Remember what he did. Remember what he will do again with all his women here.

She scuffed her toes in the snow like she was trying to wipe the stain of having ever loved anyone off them, and by the time Phaedra and Thade arrived, she was able to grin and wag her tail and frolic with them and at least pretend she hadn't hoped Mahler would say something to indicate he regretted his decision to not come with her.