Vara stared off for several moments before she nodded her head and forced herself back to her feet.  At least she was not alone in this, or stuck in some torture chamber where no one cared if she lived or died, as long as she was useful.  She nodded and began to walk back to where their clothes were left, and once they arrived there, she began to change out of the ill-fitting dress and back into her own clothing. It felt good to put it back on, like she was back in her own skin, even as the world was falling around her.<br/><br/>Logically she knew he was right about the mate bond.  It would look like exactly what it was, that she had convinced him to form it for her own survival.  If the witches would kill her for not doing enough, they might kill both of them if they thought their outside agent was compromised by the enemy.<br/><br/>“I’m not sure I can be as empathetic as you need.  I was foresaken, but I had a family.  Friends.  A life.  It sounds like you were never afforded any of those, not from the people who should have given it to you...” Her parents may not have loved each other, but they did love her, even if it was a tough love at times.  Geraint had not even gotten that much.  “I don’t need a breather.  We can keep moving.  We should get out of here before nightfall, before Blackvayne rises and has full control of all his faculties.  I still worry he might sense me or something.”  She greatly feared the idea of hurting Geraint in some way if Blackvayne regained some kind of hold on her.  Vara continued to don her own clothing, pulling her well-worn shirt back over her body, and then the leather vest she wore over it, like a second skin of armor.<br/><br/>“What will the witches do if they find out you took me to this safe place?  Is this going to risk where you stand with them?” She asked, suddenly worried how his need to protect her might hurt him in the long run.