I lean in, studying him more closely now. He lookswell. Color warms his cheeks. There’s flesh on his bones. Nothing like the hollow-eyed, exhausted miner I remember. “Then how did you escape?”
His mouth tilts into a small, knowing smile. “I didn’t,” he says. “Lord Luceran released me.”
For a heartbeat, I’m convinced I’ve misheard him. That the cold has crept into my ears and dulled my senses.
“He… released you?”
“I can’t explain it,” Rollin continues. “He came to me in the night, when I was certain I would freeze to death. He opened the cage, wrapped me in a fur, and put me into a carriage. He told me my service was complete. The carriage took me home.”
The words spin through my mind, over and over, until they begin to settle into something resembling sense. I glance over my shoulder, toward the shadows, where a flash of blue and gold gleams faintly in the darkness.
Those eyes have seen through my feeble attempt at shielding Rollin. But there is no anger in them. Because Rollin didn’t escape.
“That’s wonderful, Rollin. Where is your family now?”
He gestures across the room to a table near the hearth, where a woman and four young girls clap along with the music, laughter lighting their faces.
Just seeing them softens him entirely. His smile widens until it seems too large for his face. “We’re heading to Rethmar,” he says. “Starting over somewhere new.” He laughs softly. “Somewhere warm.”
Then his gaze drifts back toward the shadowed corner. “Do you think I should thank him? I never had the chance.”
I shake my head gently. “Probably best to keep your distance in case he changes his mind.”
Rollin considers that, then nods. “You’re right. Then I’ll thank you instead.”
“For what?” I ask, brow lifting.
“For speaking up for me when you didn’t have to.”
My chin dips, my shoulders sag. “Little good it did you.”
“Perhaps,” Rollin says quietly. “Perhaps not. All I know is that never before has Lord Luceran shown the kind of mercy he showed me that night, and I cannot help but wonder if it was your words that stirred it in him.”
“I doubt that very much,” I reply, a soft scoff threading through my voice. As if anythingIsaid could have altered the will of a Fae lord. “But I am glad to see you free.”
“It seems you are as well,” he says.
“Not quite,” I tell him. “I’m going to visit my father.”
Rollin’s brow creases. “Just a visit?”
I nod. “Then I will return to Castle Frostwyn.”
His frown deepens. “And Lord Luceran is traveling with you?”
I nod again, still not fully registering why that might seem strange.
Rollin says nothing more, but his gaze drifts away, his mouth twisting into a faint, knowing half-smile.
“What?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “Nothing at all. It seems the spirit of kindness has taken Lord Luceran quite suddenly… and for no particular reason.”
I frown, keenly aware of the teasing edge beneath his words.
“I should return to my family,” he says then. “Safe travels to you.”
He moves back across the room, wrapping his wife and daughters in his arms, holding them as though they might vanish if he loosens his grip.
