Page 48 of Fierce Highland Magic

"I know enough."

"You don't."

"You are already paying for me."

"I claimed you."

"Without asking."

"Yes."

"That does not make the cost yours to bear."

He almost laughed. Not because it was funny. Because it was impossible.

The market had taught him the opposite lesson so thoroughly that hearing the words spoken aloud made the world tilt for half a second.

Lyra had paid for Nessa.

She had paid with something she could never retrieve. And now she was telling him he could not pay for her.

"You are very determined to make my evening difficult," he said.

"You are determined to make yourself a sacrifice no one requested."

The words went cleanly through him.

For a moment, he forgot the market. Forgot the lanterns. Forgot the fox-faced vendor and his scale and the pale line beneath his throat.

There was only Lyra, rain still shining in her dark hair, standing in the middle of a world that had taken something precious from her and refusing to let him turn himself into the next loss.

He could have told her she did not understand.

He could have told her this was different.

He could have smiled, made a joke, moved the conversation three steps sideways until she forgot what she had asked.

Instead, he said, "Perhaps."

It was like stepping off a cliff. Lyra's expression shifted. Altered. She had not expected the answer.

Neither had he.

The market gave a low chime from somewhere above them.

A row of tiny bells beneath a nearby awning began to tremble.

Rowan looked toward the side lane.

The fox-faced vendor stood at its far end again, waiting with his scale.

He had not been there a moment ago.

The lane beyond him descended into a passage lit by blue lamps. At the entrance, the cobbles vanished beneath black water so still it reflected the lanterns perfectly. Shapes moved under the surface.

The route was not safe. It was not meant to be.

But it led away from the watching stalls and toward the older quarter, where the market's paths narrowed, twisted, and offered fewer eyes to count Lyra's new mark.