“25,” she insisted.
It was still too much, he thought, but it would give her ¤160 in spending money every week. And if it really mattered to Cassia, maybe it would help give her peace of mind. He didn’t want her thinking she was in his debt, not when he was the lucky one in the situation, to have found her at all.
“Fine,” Aevrin allowed. Cassia stuck her hand out. With a lopsided smile, Aevrin reached out and shook her hand firmly. “But no more talk of being in my debt.”
Cassia didn’t protest. When their hands dropped, he wrapped his arm around her. She leaned her head against his shoulder as he breathed her in.
“Can we lie down?” Cassia whispered. “I feel done in.”
“Sure,” Aevrin said.
She didn’t seem to want kisses, not then; just comfort. That was fine by Aevrin. They climbed up and slid beneath the bedspread. As Aevrin wrapped his hands around the curves of her body, Cassia buried her face against his chest. Aevrin’s fingers slowly traced Cassia’s form as her breathing evened. She wasn’t asleep; her fingers kept fiddling with him, twisting into his curls or playing with the buttons on his shirt. But she seemed at peace, at least compared to how she’d been when they came into the room.
And it felt damn good to hold her. So good his chest hurt from caring. This kind of love was overwhelming, and new, to Aevrin.
They’d been holding each other about an hour, he figured, when the front door opened and his father’s voice boomed through the house.
“Aevrin, Cassia? You upstairs?”
“Comin’,” Aevrin hollered, sitting up so he wasn’t yelling into Cassia’s ears. He turned back to her as she quickly scrambled up beside him.
“He can’t be back yet, can he?” she asked, ashen-faced, her hair falling loose around her face.
“No,” Aevrin agreed. He had no idea what had brought his father home so early, and there was no usein speculation. Cassia was first to the door, Aevrin behind her with a hand reaching out to stroke briefly against her lower back.
Rylan wasn’t downstairs. The rest of the family was gathered in the den. Gramma Prisca was in her chair, Mavek and Sorven on the larger of the two couches, his father standing and waiting for them to arrive.
“Is Rylan hurt?” Cassia gasped as they stepped into the room.
“He’s fine. Sit down, Cassia. Both of you,” Sath said.
“Then, did you—? Lareo…”
“He changed his mind,” Sath said. “He… well, better start at the beginning, but he’s safe, Cassia, alright? Everything’s fine.”
She nodded, eyes wide, and followed Aevrin to the smaller couch. Sath took the one remaining chair.
“Should I be fixing drinks, or...?” Mavek teased. Aevrin gave him a dirty look, and offered Cassia his hand. She took it, her own shaking. He squeezed hard.
“We didn’t get more than a mile before he started talking,” Sath said. “Told me he was having second thoughts about running.”
“He wanted to come back?” Cassia asked hopefully, her head turning towards the door as if expecting her brother to jump out and yellsurprise.
“No,” Sath said. “He was worried if he started over you were gonna spend the rest of your years looking over your shoulder for his mistakes. And that he was, too. That he could run real far but there might be things that would follow him. That he wanted to fix the mistake he’d made, and running wasn’t going to do that. He was thinking about it even before he got here, but he wasn’t sure yet, and he knew you'd try to stop him if he brought it up.”
“Oh, no,” Cassia whispered.
“He told me everything that happened, and he asked my advice, and we talked for a bit. And then we went to Sheriff Boone.”
“Oh,no,” Cassia said again, louder this time. Aevrin layered his other hand over the one he already held. His blood ran cold, afraid for her.
“Well, what did he do?” Gramma asked, gripping the arms of her chair. “How much trouble is that boy in?”
“Cassia?” Sath asked, looking to her for permission.
She drew a deep breath, her face etched in pain.
“We were in a tight spot, money-wise. Even with both of us working. He wanted to go to school, but the lenders would only give so much…”
