My inability to resist the incessant temptation of her had become abundantly clear over the past few days. Her offer to bond with me had almost been my undoing.
If she stayed any longer, Iwouldmake her my bond-mate, and that could not be allowed.
I could not let Raewyn end up like my mother.
I’d always known I wasn’t worthy of her but, selfish bastard that I was, I hadn’t been able to stand the idea of anyone else having her.
It was time to do the right thing though.
It was time to let her go. Keeping her close was painful for the both of us.
We’d spent most of the ride in steely silence, communicating only when absolutely necessary, but Raewyn spoke when I brought the horse to a halt.
“It’s Seaspire,” she whispered as she stared at the castle’s white stone walls. “We’re really here.”
“We’re here,” I confirmed, dismounting and offering my hand to help her down from the large horse.
She looked down at me, her eyes displaying surprise and something else. Dismay? Disappointment?
“I didn’t think you’d actually do it,” she said.
Keeping my voice as neutral as possible, I said, “I’m giving you what you wanted.”
This was not the time for displays of emotion, though my insides were turbulent.
“I’m giving you what youshouldwant—a life with Stellon.”
Though Raewyn was shaking her head, I gripped her waist and lifted her out of the saddle, setting her feet on the ground.
She looked up at me, her eyes wide and glossy with gathering tears.
“Are you sure this is whatyouwant?” she asked.
No, my own voice screamed in my mind, but I kept the thought to myself.
“I want you to have a good life,” I said. “I want you to have the love you want.”
“What if the love I want is yours?” she whispered.
Fierce desire swelled my heart so quickly it stole my breath. My hands ached with the suppressed impulse to throw Raewyn across the saddle and gallop away.
Instead, I held my ground.
“It isn’t possible,” I told her. My insides were caving in, but I willed my face and voice to remain steady.
Nodding toward the palace, which was beginning to glow a peachy orange in the first rays of dawn, I raised my arm and pointed toward my childhood home.
“But my brother is right inside those walls. He’s always been the better man, and he… he loves you. You should be with him.”
Raewyn was shaking her head back and forth. She placed her hands on my chest, gripping my shirt.
The frantic look on her face crushed my heart.
“Pharis, no.”
There was no choice. I was going to have to compel her—and use every other glamour in my possession to make her walk away, if that’s what it took.
Taking Raewyn’s cheeks between my palms, I looked into her eyes, and put the full force of my Sway and Compelling glamour into my words.
