This was not the story I’d expected to hear when Pharis told me he’d been holed away somewhere with her for several months.
“Until you screw it up again,” he said. “Which you probably will.”
I gave my brother a hard, humorless grin. “And I assume you’ll be waiting for that day, ready to swoop in and take her back?”
He shook his head slowly, but then he said, “I can’t promise I won’t.”
“Well your wait won’t last long,” I told him. “I plan to marry Raewyn tomorrow instead of Lady Helina, assuming you’re telling the truth and she’s willing.”
Pharis’ head dropped again. Though he muttered it to the floor, I heard his reaction.
“Good.”
I ordered my men to seize my brother and take him to the dungeon, expecting him to fight them, to use his powers to try to escape and possibly to murder me.
But he didn’t.
As they dragged him toward the door, he turned his head and spoke to me over his shoulder.
“Be good to her, Stellon, or you’ll have me to answer to. I’ll always be watching.”
“You’d need eyes for that,” I said. “And I have a good mind to let my torturer remove them.”
In all honesty, I had no ideawhatI was going to do with him. It depended in large part upon what Raewyn had to say. I wanted to hear fromherthat nothing had happened between them.
The guards marched Pharis through a door at the rear of the throne room just as the front doors opened and she entered, flanked by two more soldiers.
My eyes watered watching her approach.
I would have thought it was impossible for Raewyn to get any more beautiful, but somehow she was. She smiled when she saw me and left her escorts to run into my arms.
“Stellon,” she breathed into my tunic. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
Embracing her tightly, I spoke against the top of her head. “I missed you, Firebug. I thought I’d lost you.”
Setting her back a bit so I could look at her, I felt pieces of my heart that had been missing snap back into place.
“Never,” she said. “All I could think about was getting back to you.”
“Where have you been all this time? Can you tell me? Did Pharis kidnap you?”
She shook her head, blinking in confusion. “I don’t know. I know a dragon carried me from the arena, and I was horribly injured, but I’m much better now. I woke up at Stormcrest a few weeks ago. I’ve been wanting to get away ever since. I think I… I guess I escaped.”
I kissed Raewyn’s hair and held her against me tightly, relieved and happy and filled with gratitude. It seemed too good to be true that she was back in my arms.
“What a brave girl you are. But then I always knew that, didn’t I?”
Relaxing my grip, I held Raewyn at arm’s length again and looked her up and down. She seemed healthy, her cheeks rosy and her figure filled out.
“Are you well? Was it awful there with him?” I asked.
She opened her mouth to answer but hesitated, looking confused again.
“I don’t think so,” she finally said. “It’s a little hard to remember.”
The brute had compelled her to forget what had happened to her.
That eye removal threat was looking more and more likely all the time. He might lose those wandering hands of his as well.
