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She reached down and plucked at her elegant robe nervously.  Was she in trouble?  She knew her ideas were revolutionary. 

“Do you believe then that a true bone can be king?”

“True bone.  Sacred bone.  Both are descended from royalty,” she whispered.

“But only the sacred bone is descended from royalty through both of his parents.”

She gazed up at him suddenly.  “So then, is the boy who had only one royal parent any less important or prepared to wield authority than the boy with two?” she asked him quietly.

He stared sternly down at her for several moments. 

“Are you suggesting that we change the system into which we were born?” he asked doubtfully.

She swallowed.  She knew she was walking on dangerous ground.  This man was surely part of the nobility.  If not a son of the royal family itself.  She could be speaking to a sacred bone.  Such knowledge chilled her.  If he knew what she truly believed, would he despise her for it?  Worse yet, would he punish her?

“Do you really want me to speak the truth?  Am I free to speak what I believe?”

“Free?”

“Free from punishment.”

“Punishment?” he asked, startled.

She nodded.  “I know you are a powerful man.  A noble.  Perhaps a prince.  I have no desire to offend you.”

“Would you wish to offend me if I were a peasant?”

There was an odd note in his voice.  It surprised her.  She glanced up sharply to catch the vulnerable expression on his face.

“I have no wish to offend you no matter who you are.  Even if you are a terribly clever servant usurping some unused rooms in the palace and doing your utmost to fool me.”  Her lips quirked upward.

Her answer pleased him, and he chuckled.  “You malign me!”  He shook his head.  “What a terribly active imagination you have!”

“Terribly,” she emphasized in agreement.

“Terribly,” he rumbled quietly as his chortle laced his voice with unexpected glee.  But after a few moments, his sober expression returned, and he pressed her.  “Do you think we should change the system?”

Why did her opinion matter to him so much? 

He wasn’t sure.  But he found that it did.

She took a deep breath as she studied the gorgeous, crimson fabric her fingertips were sliding over right now.  Then, without meeting his gaze, she nodded her head minutely.  And missed the huge smile that suddenly split his face.

“Well, peasant or princess, I think you look beautiful in those garments,” he murmured provocatively a moment later.

Drawing her startled eyes towards his twinkling ones.  She blinked up at him.  And felt the atmosphere shifting and thickening between them.  Something weighty was floating in his eyes.  And something was warming the air between them.

Her stomach took a nosedive before flipping completely over.  She shivered.  Trapped in that enigmatic gaze.  She watched as his eyes dropped to caress her lips.  And her heart began to pound. 

She had put herself in this danger.  By walking through the woods alone.  By pretending to faint.  By accepting his deal for a bag of silver.  That she desperately needed.  The money from the combs had run out.

Truthfully, she had nowhere to go.  No one to whom to run.  No protector seeking her out.  She was all alone in the world.  Terribly alone.  Living by her wits alone.  Which might have been enough had she not been born an albino.  But no one wanted to touch someone so purely different.  None wished to hire her.  Except for this man.

A man who apparently desired her kiss too.

How extraordinary was that?

She’d found someone who wanted her.  Even fleetingly.

She felt that old pain bubbling up again.  And coughed to cover the sob that escaped her lips.

Jijin stared down at her.  He could feel her torment.  “What is it?” he whispered.

When she remained silent, he reached up and set his palm against her cheek.  “Eun Sook.  Look at me,” he breathed.

When she raised her eyes to meet his, his gut clenched at the vulnerability pouring from her gaze.  “You really want me?” she queried.  Nearly silently. 

He didn’t even hear what she said, but he read her lips.  And gave a definitive nod of his head.  “Very much.”

But when he leaned towards her, she moved her head to the right, presenting him with her cheek.  He stopped before that wall.  And felt oddly hurt.

Her heart was pounding so hard that she just knew that she was going to faint.  She closed her eyes and concentrated on breathing.  So terrified that he was going to touch her.  Kiss her.  And equally as afraid that he wasn’t going to.

She had no desire to lose her virtue.  But she also didn’t want to spend the rest of her life alone.  Isolated from every other human being.  As though she’d been born into a subclass of human. 

He sighed against her ear.  But he didn’t touch her.  “You may go sleep on your beloved couch if you desire.”  His words were bitter.  And they bit her.

She didn’t even have the courage to glance back up into his eyes.  She made a hasty retreat to her own room.  Where she cried herself to sleep.  After recognizing that she loved him.  With all her heart.