“It’s impractical,” he muttered.
Ribbon burrowed deeper into my lap.
“I mean… I can let him stay,” I said slowly. “For tonight.”
Savla stood, brushing glitter off his knees, looking very much like a man accepting defeat from a situation he had no idea how to get out of. “You’re too nice to him. That’s why he’s going to take advantage of you.”
Ribbon rumbled proudly and Savla’s gaze softened—just a little.
“Message me when you’re done settling him. I’ll… make sure you can get a break from him,” he said in a low voice.
My chest warmed. “Savla?” I whispered.
He paused at the door.
“I like that you’re helping me. With everything,” I confessed, knowing I was making myself vulnerable, but not caring. Not when it came to this male. His cheeks flushed beneath the dusting of glitter.
“I know,” he said quietly. “It matters to me...you...”
He trailed off, not finishing his sentence and then he left before I could respond—as though if he stayed, he might say something he wasn’t ready to. I pressed my hand to my chest and the bond answered.
Ribbon, the menace, croaked knowingly.
Chapter 20
Hanna
Iwas at the front of the building, exploring the tiny green space that Ribbon insisted we needed to visit, when I heard the engine. A low, purring growl—smooth, expensive and polished.
The kind of sound that I’d become used to with all the expensive vehicles that belonged to our cluster of witches and orcs. But this one sounded... familiar in a way that I didn’t like. Then the car pulled into view.
A sleek black luxury sedan—glossy enough to reflect the treetops from across the street, gleaming in a way that practically screamedmoney and manipulation.The Greyleaf crest was printed discreetly on the license plate frame and my stomach sank.
I cursed myself for thinking I was safe enough to venture outside of the security of the building. I’d grown accustomed toSavla’s presence and his aura of protection. I wasan idiot.
My parents stepped out of the car. My mother first, immaculate in charcoal silk like she’d been pressed straight from a magazine ad. My father was right behind her, face arranged into that practiced look of disappointed concern. Even after three years of not seeing them, they looked the same.
Then Corwin emerged from the back seat with the same perfectly styled hair, same smug smirk and the same cologne that smelled like arrogance and citrus. My heart dropped into my shoes. My mother gasped dramatically when she spotted me.
“Hanna. Oh,darling.Look at you,” she said, her tone filled with disgust. Her gaze swept over to where Ribbon sat next to me like he’d personally offended her with his presence.
My father added with a rehearsed sigh, “We’ve come to bring you home.”
Home. There was that word again. It had never meant what they thought it did.
Corwin slid his hands into his pockets, rocking back on his heels like he owned the place.
“Well, well. If it isn’t the runaway witch,” he purred, and I had to wonder what thehellI’d been thinking, agreeing to marry this tiny, pathetic excuse for a male. His smile sharpened. “Did you find yourself a pet to play house with?”
Before I could speak, movement caught at the corner of my eye.
Savla.
He appeared from the doorway of the building with Darak and Enka in tow—furious brown eyes narrowing as soon as he saw who stood across from me. Corwin wasn’t a secret from him. I’d shown him all of the male’s social media and he’d scowled, looking from his picture to me as if he wonderedwhat the hellI’d been thinking. I’d wondered the same thing.
He slowed his stride and came to stand beside me. Nottouching and not saying a word. Just… present.
He was solid enough that my entire spine loosened. My mother stepped forward with a frown, her gaze flickering first to Savla and then to the two other orcs standing a bit behind us, like bodyguards.
