Ashlynn's heart shook like a leaf in the wind, clinging to Wolstan's words the way a leaf clung to a branch in a storm.
For months she'd wondered… No, for months, she'd been plagued by doubts she couldn't rid herself of. Doubts about whether her father truly loved her or if he'd arranged her marriage to Owain in order to finally be rid of her. In the long, isolated months she'd spent in the Briar, when she felt farther from her family than she'd ever been, a dark seed of doubt had whispered to her that he cared more for his alliance with the Lothians and the grandsons she would bear than he cared for her…
She told herself over and over again that he wasn't like that. He'd supported her in so many ways over the years, not just keeping her safe from the eyes of the Inquisition but helping her to find what joy she could within the gilded cage she'd grown up in.
