"I can take her to Yelgra," said Ileus.
"Are you mad? That forest is near Ixoviya. What if Sedora comes to know about you?"
"Who will tell her?" said Ileus in a low, cold voice, looking at the men around him. "Everyone out here owes allegiance to my father or mother."
As the conversation between men took place, sitting near Ileus, Anastasia couldn't help feeling proud of him. When he said that no one could offend her, she felt as if she had found her true anchor. The man defended her honor as his own and that moved her emotionally. Over the past eight years, eight long formative years from being a child to growing into a woman, she was only faced with ridicule, brutality and aloofness. She thought that Nyle was close to her, but the girl turned out to be her biggest betrayer. She was like a snake in the sleeve.
