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"Then what is?"

"Love," Anthiel replied. "Real, true love. Love is commitment, its action; it's what you DO, not what you FEEL. Love is doing what's best for someone else regardless of what you would lose or gain. It's putting someone else and their well-being before your own. It's making a commitment and choice to put the other person first regardless of what happens. That's love. The feelings often go with it, and they grow over time, but that's love at the core. So let me ask you a question."

"Okay," Beth said.

"Has Ethan always put your well-being before his own?" Anthiel asked.

Beth thought about Ethan rescuing her from Wulvren, agreeing to marry her to save her life and the lives of her family, then him saving her from Rachel on their wedding night.

"I think he has," Beth said.

"And he continues to do so," Anthiel said. "A blind man could see Ethan and Alana are head-over-heels for each other. Yet despite their powerful attraction -- aided by their bond -- both of them have kept