And apparently he thought I was serious about striking a bargain of my own, demanding a payment of sex with Raewyn in exchange for helping her.
She didn’t seem the least bit fazed though. “Yes. Done. Just help me rescue my sister.”
And now I was annoyed for a different reason.
“I wasjoking. I have no desire to marry a woman who accepts me under duress,” I said. “Besides, if I ever make an actual marriage proposal, it’ll be far more memorable than that.”
Stellon relaxed, but Raewyn seemed more anxious than ever.
“Anything you want then,” she said, moving her hands to my chest. “I’ll become one of your servants, clean your house, muck your horses’ stalls. I’ll join your retinue and perform any sort of services you want, whenever you want. Only help me save Turi.”
I was shocked—and honestly more than a bit turned on—by Raewyn’s reckless offers.
The thought of her living under my roof and being at my beck and call day and night was beyond titillating.
But of course I wanted much more than that from her.
Seeing her again only solidified the truth I’d been coming to realize these past few empty weeks.
I literally couldn’t live without her.
Deserving or not, bad for her or not, it was a fact.
“As tempting as you are, love,” I said. “You don’t need to bargain with me when it comes to your family. As I’ve told you, I came to care for them like my own. I won’t abide any harm coming to any of them. I’ll do whatever it takes to get your sister back.”
Raewyn sagged in relief.
Stellon scowled. “You knew you were going to help her from the beginning. Was all of that really necessary?”
I turned to him. “Why areyounecessary in this arrangement? Why are you even here?”
“The Evanescer who brought us here needed my Exalting glamour to make the trip. And I want to help,” he said.
“We don’tneedyour ‘help,’ big brother,” I told him.
“You never know. Even Father did at times.”
I shook him off. “Raewyn came tome. I’m all she needs. You’ve done your part—you can leave now.”
“Let me try to make up for what I’ve done,” Stellon pleaded. “The witch who took her is the village mother of Hill Town, near Merisola. I can augment the Evanescer’s glamour again and get us there quickly. Much faster than riding.”
Reading my unmoved expression, he grew exasperated.
“Look, I know I screwed up okay? In pretty much every way possible. I don’t know what to say. My thoughts haven’t exactly been… rational.”
Stellon gestured toward Raewyn. “Maybe I love her too much. Maybe Iamunder a spell, I don’t know. But you’ve done some pretty crazy things yourself for the sake of love.”
He had me there. The dragonmighthave been a bit of overkill. And sending Raewyn away for the sake of love had definitely been a mistake.
My brother went on. “I’m sorry for ordering the public scourging. I’m sorry for leading the witch to Raewyn’s family. If you want to go back that far, I’m sorry for trusting Father over you and thinking he waseveron our side. But all of that is behind us, and if we are to rescue Raewyn’s sister and defeat the witches, we need to put the past in the past. At least until the girl is safely back with her family.”
He had a point. The child had to be our priority, and who knew what we might be facing when we confronted the Earthwife who had her?
As much as I hated the idea of working with him, Stellon’s Exalting power could very well come in handy.
“You’re right,” I said.
Silently, just for him, I added,After the girl is safe, we’ll return to the issue of Raewyn.
