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Je l'aime. I love her.

It no longer mattered whether she would prove loyal or not. Suitable or unsuitable.

He loved her. Unconditionally. And he always would.

****

BY THE TIME SHE REGAINEDconsciousness, they were in a cave, and he had a fire burning.

"S-Sylvain..."

He watched her slowly sit up. He had already checked her for injuries, had only found small cuts and grazes. Bruises that would later darken into being. Nothing serious, and that was good...since what he was about to tell her would cause her a different kind of pain.

"I'm sorry, Liana." It took everything in him to keep his distance. "All of this is my fault."

"I don't understand."

"Today was supposed to be a test."

"For what?"

"For you."

"I see."

His chest tightened. Because her eyes showed that she wasn't lying. She did see the truth, and that was how he was unable to trust her without proof.

"Everything that happened, however..." Sylvain forced himself to continue because she deserved no less. "The person I asked to conduct the tests was a friend of mine. But someone else interfered."

"Your enemy?"

"Non."

"Then...my brother's."

Sylvain froze. Sheknewabout Biancardi?

A smile wobbled to his wife's lips. "The tests you mentioned..." Her voice was steady, but he could hear the effort it took. "They gave me one, too. Asked me to draw a map and sketch the layout of your place. Or they'd kill me."

The devil was up to its old tricks again, Sylvain found himself thinking.

But this time, he would not let it win.

"It doesn't matter—"

"I think it does."

"Pourquoi?" Why?

"Because they gave me an incentive to betray you."

Ah.

"That's how you found out about your brother."

"Oui."

His mind played back her words.