Ian hated when Mina told half stories or danced around the truth, but he was beginning to realize that it was the only way she knew how to speak. He found himself wondering why she talked in circles in the first place, but that was a conversation for another day. What he needed to know now was why she looked as though she had done something wrong.
"Mina, you have already told me that the Loam family offered to 'allow' you to marry their son. What you are doing now is avoiding my question. Why do you look as though you have something to hide?"
"I don't," Mina said. "I just- I needed to protect my family."
"How?" Ian did not have to ask; he knew exactly how Mina would think to protect her parents. She had likely traded herself away the same way she had done for several other people in the past. "You agreed to be with him, didn't you?"
