"Gar."

He ignored his father's voice and kept walking through the sleet.

"Liam. Stop."

It was a command, and Gar couldn't help but follow it. "I won’t let her sell herself," he said as he turned back into the wind. "She just accepted my flute."

"And it’s her right to give it back. You can’t force her to stay."

Gar clenched his fists. He wanted to punch something. To run to Fie Obsid and kill the chief himself. Every time he managed to make things right with Kindra, something happened to pull her away. It was his brother's curse working against him. "There has to be another way."

Wolf put his hand on Gar's shoulder and led him between two tents where the wind and sleet weren’t so bad. "We don't know that Obsid will accept. The first thing will be to send someone to propose the trade. He may not think she's worth the entire Seven Tribes."

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"She's worth the entire world."

Wolf smiled, but it fell quickly. "If Obsid doesn't agree, then we are back to where we started. Monk can find out if he's willing. The chief may want the food and weapons more than a son."

"I'm going with Monk."

"Then I’ll go too. If you give away your feelings, the chief will be more likely to accept." Wolf patted his shoulder. "And we can't have you killing the chief while we're in Fie Obsid."

Gar looked toward the Odion tent, praying that Obsid wouldn't want her. "I'll let you go back alone." He couldn't face Kindra right now.

Wolf nodded. "Go see your mother. She'll want to spend time with you before we leave. In case we don't return."

*****

That night Kindra sat on her cot in her empty tent and ran her fingers over the pattern of Gar’s flute, hoping he would come to see her before they left for Fie Obsid. How was it that in less than a day she had gone from being betrothed to Gar to being possibly betrothed to Chief Obsid? The thought made her sick.

She looked up when she heard footsteps outside. Gar's bass voice trembled through the door flap, but she couldn't tell what he was saying against the wind. More movement—Monk getting up. Cougar would be outside keeping guard for the rest of the night.

The footsteps receded and Gar left without saying a word to her. She wanted to run after him—to beg him to forgive her, to prove to him that this was the only way they could win. Instead, she curled around the flute and stared at the wall for the rest of the night.