She didn't hear any of his previous words, only the command that told her not to run. Her eyes continued darting back and forth from him and the tent flap, her panic still full fledged. Verissa felt trapped, wanting to run, but knowing to do so would make things so much worse. It was just like the night before, when Jasper prepared to take everything from her. Except, Asher wasn't Jasper. And his eyes weren't cruel. There was concern behind the stern in them. He'd saved her from that man, he was not attacking her now as her panic-addled mind had thought he might. 

She tried to force her breathing down, deep breaths through her nose and out through her mouth. Each slow breath calmed her some, until she reached up with a hand and touched her shield. It flashed into visibility, and she dissipated it, fading out of existence with the dull lavender glow.

Her pleading eyes, wet and wide with fear found Asher's, [color=f6989d][b]"Please, please don't hurt me. I've never done anything bad with it. I'm not even good at it."[/b][/color] She didn't realize that he might not know how magic users back in Ebonfort were supposedly treated. [color=f6989d][b]"Are you... Am I going to be punished? Because if I am, please don't let the pups take any harm... They kill or exile us back ho... there. Please, I don't want to.."[/b][/color] [i]Leave.[/i] 

She couldn't believe how careless she'd been. That was her ace in the hole, her biggest secret. And now it was out. She stepped forward a bit, putting herself closer, hoping it would help. She'd seen those looks, seen that Asher was in fact a good man, in a bare whisper, [color=f6989d][b]"I don't want to leave."[/b][/color]