"Here, I'll throw them out the door." Lek wanted to make up for his mistake. He never would have guessed that Jack would have given Pinja flowers.

Millie grabbed them and did her best to keep them from Pinja's sight as she handed them back to Lek.

Lek opened the door, hurled the flowers into the hall, then closed it again.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know." Lek apologized to Pinja, feeling terrible.

"I didn't know either, or I would have told him no flowers," Millie apologized.

Pinja was feeling terrible herself, getting so upset over a bouquet of flowers. Lek was just trying to be nice.

 "It's not your fault. Neither of you could have known..." She had not even told Millie about the flowers. "I - I'll be okay." She said weakly.

"I, er, got you something else." Praying Pinja had no bad associations with jewelery Lek drew the leather string and blue stone from his pocket and handed it to Millie.

Millie looked down at it. "Oh, that's pretty." She glanced at Pinja. "Is jewelry safe for you, Pinja?"

Pinja nodded reluctantly.

Pinja stared at the stone, she had seen some fine jewelry a lifetime ago, had even owned some. She could tell that stone was not made of paste, it was real. It did not upset her but she wondered why Lek was giving her something so nice.

Millie nodded to Lek, to encourage him to continue.

"I thought it looked like your eyes." Lek said shyly.

"It's pretty." A little color crept into Pinja's pale face. "But- this is a real sapphire Lek! It's so expensive- why are you giving this to me?"

"Is it?" Lek was surprised, he had just thought it a pretty stone. "I found it in the garden, in the spring. It had been there a very long time, probably left by someone who lived in the keep ages ago. I thought you should have it."

Pinja awkwardly fidgeted with the leather cord.

"Surely there's someone else you would rather give this to, or to hold onto it to give it to someone..."

Lek shook his head. "You're the only one I want to give it to."

Where Pinja came from men did not just randomly give expensive jewelry to women... Unless they were foolishly rich and showing off. Lek was not rich, and he was not showing off. If this was from anyone else Pinja would be terrified about what a man would want to give her such a thing, she had to remind herself that Lek was Millie's brother, he visited them often, he had always been kind... But she was getting nervous. She gave Millie a confused look.

Millie smiled gently at her. "Lek likes you, Pinja. A lot. He's trying to tell you that in his own way."

Instead of comforted Pinja became more nervous, frightened even. She was sure no decent guy could like her after Jack kidnapped her the first time, definitely not after what Jack and his people did to her after the raid. She tried to get up.

Lek blushed, he knew he should have known Millie knew that. He shyly looked down at his feet. "I wish I had said something before... Before all those bad things happened. I've liked you for a while."

"Pinja, you're not strong enough to leave. If you want Lek to leave, just tell him," Millie said softly.

Oh god, Lek wasn't denying it! Pinja did not know what to say. She did not want him there, but she did not want to hurt him by telling him to leave. She had so few friends, she did not want to lose Lek as a friend.

Lek could see that Pinja was getting nervous and decided to get this over with quickly.

"Would you marry me?" Lek asked.

"What?" Pinja could not believe what she just heard.

Millie stared at her brother.

"I wouldn't do anything to you you wouldn't want me to." Lek said quickly. "I won't even touch you if that's how you want it. Separate beds- even separate rooms."

Pinja wanted to run but was still too weak. She did not know what to say to this. Besides no of course, but how? She was horrified.