Valley of Gold [m] I need not one thing more

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She was soothed immediately when Dusty Rose pinned her against him; there was relief in the lack of choice, freedom in being able to do nothing but surrender to her lover's embrace. All the fight faded from her, and with a soft sigh Reverie closed her eyes to call the memory back. Riordan. The fiery chill of an autumn breeze, red and gold leaves carried on its back.

When I left The Gilded Sea - I ran for a long time. For days, I think. It was all tall grass for so many miles - and then short twisted trees and rocky little hills and dry shrubs. Then it was bigger hills. Then mountains. That was the first time I ever saw a real forest - I didn't know what they were called then, so I just called it the tree place.

That was where I met Riordan, Dusty Rose would know this name by now — but he knew him only as the man slain by Lestan. He didn't know the full story. Not yet. My nightmare was about - it was about the first time I met him. In that forest. But nothing bad really happened then. He was nice until - until later.

He was part of this pack - Willowspire. They were... healers, but they answered to a bigger pack. An empire. That was what they called it. They were at war with this other pack - or another empire, I don't know. The whole area was unsafe. And they - they saw everything. They knew everything.

Riordan especially. He was good at making friends, so everyone told him whatever he wanted to know. They trusted him - and I did, too. So it wasn't that weird to me when - when he checked up on me, and always knew where I was. Sometimes he acted like he owned me. I guess I liked that part. But then he...

He wanted more. And I was so young - I wasn't even a yearling yet. I wasn't interested. But he wouldn't... Here she faltered, shivering against Dusty Rose as she fought the sudden threat of tears. He didn't listen. So - so when he was - done - I ran. I ran for weeks, because I knew as long as I was anywhere near Willowspire, he would find me. I ran until I didn't recognize anything anymore, not even the sky.

Then he found me anyway. And he - he's dead now, but - my whole life, people have tried to control me, or - or own me, And she had built the image of herself around that fight, around the dream of freedom. She still wasn't sure whether that was a lie or not. For a long time I wanted to get away from it, but I - I don't think I know any other way to be. All I've ever managed to do is - is try to be the one in control, and I don't like that, either.

So I decided it would be my own choice. And I chose you - and I'm happy with that. But I... This was what she could not put into words. Those who had come before Dusty Rose had forced their will on her, one way or another, stepping uninvited into places she would have kept forever to herself. But the doors were all opened now; their footprints lingered, and more than anything she wanted them gone. She was tired of the nightmares. She was tired of the fear.