Chapter 43

LESSON ONE was simple: Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to remove a personal possession from Wil.

It was Dallin's fault, really. He'd handled it badly, bungled a sincere attempt to help into what could easily have been--and very definitely was--interpreted as an attempt to bully and demean. A man who owned so little would of course defend what was his with rabid insistence, and Dallin should have thought of that before he'd opened his mouth. If nothing else, the truncated row over the boots should have clued him in. Nevertheless, when Locke had snorted over the pack that first night when she'd searched it, told Dallin he ought to have a look, he'd had no idea. And when he'd actually seen the... possessions inside it, he'd... well, he'd boggled.