Chapter 28 Anything You Want
Anything You Want
Pharis
Elanor convinced me to take a bath as “a mercy to my staff,” while a maid changed my bedding.
I was just stepping out of the tub when my butler Glave called through the closed bathing room door.
“You have visitors, My Prince.”
“Tell them to go away,” I yelled. “I’m ‘not at home.’”
There was literally no one I cared to see for any reason.
After a pause, he spoke again. “One of them is Lady Raewyn.”
I whirled toward the door so quickly, I slipped on the wet floor and almost fell on my arse before catching my balance.
Pulling the bathing sheet around my waist, I went to the door and yanked it open.
“Raewyn? She’s here? Right now?”
The last time I’d seen her, which was in that addictive looking glass, she was playing on the beach in Sandy Point with her sisters.
That was only this morning. How could she be here? Perhaps it was some sort of trick, a shapeshifter using her glamour to impersonate Raewyn.
But what if it was her? My heart began thumping in a way it hadn’t since the last time I was with her.
“You’re sure it’s Raewyn?” I asked Glave.
He nodded vigorously.
“She called me by name and hugged me when I opened the door. She’s in the receiving room at this very moment.”
After a pause he added. “With your brother.”
Just like that, the hopeful heart-racing stopped.
“They arrived together?” I asked in a tone so harsh my butler jumped.
“Yes, My Prince. They said the matter is urgent.”
That explained how Raewyn had gotten here so quickly. Stellon had done something, using all his Kingly authority and resources to track her down and then evanesced here with her.
But for what purpose?
If they’d come to tell me they were getting married after all, I wasn’t sure what I’d do. Probably self-incinerate in the flames of my own fury.
Still, I had to know why she’d returned.
“Tell them I’ll be down shortly.”
Dressing quickly, I jogged down the flight of stairs to the second floor and then purposely slowed my pace to take the steps to the first floor.
The main staircase was visible from the receiving area.
Spotting my visitors from above, I noted that Raewyn and Stellon were sitting on separate settees, opposite each other. They weren’t talking or even looking at each other.
A smile cracked my lips, surprising me. It might have been the first time I’d smiled in weeks.
A fresh sense of energy filled my body as well. Just having Raewyn within eyesight was reinvigorating.
It served to emphasize exactly how lifeless my life had been without her.
Hearing my footfalls on the steps, both of them turned to see me and then stood. Raewyn’s face was red, her eyes looking fevered.
Stellon had deep creases in his forehead, and his posture was slumped.
Something was very wrong.
She started running toward me. “Pharis… it’s Turi. The Earthwives have her.”
“What?” My lungs constricted, my insides going cold.
I went to Raewyn, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her close. Her body was trembling.
“But how? No one knew where you were but me,” I said.
Stellon’s posture slackened further.
“It’s my fault,” he said. “I asked them for help to find Raewyn. I used my Exalting glamour to enhance their locator spell, led one of them right to her. She took Raewyn’s sister and disappeared.”
“You blithering idiot,” I said over Raewyn’s head, instantly incensed.
“It doesn’t matter how it happened or whose fault it is.” She drew back and gripped my hands, refocusing my attention on her.
“All that matters is getting my sister back. Can you help me?” she asked. “Nevermind, I know you can. Will you help me?”
Noticing the way Stellon had his eyes trained on our joined hands, I felt a flicker of annoyance.
And a full wildfire of possessiveness.
Why would Raewyn bring him along to seek my assistance? She couldn’t have believed his presence would help convince me.
“I suppose I could be persuaded to do such a thing… if it was for my bond-mate,” I said, intentionally provoking my brother.
“What?” Stellon yelled.
Yep, he still loved her and wanted her for himself.
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 was joking. 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 are you necessary 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’t need your ‘help,’ big brother,” I told him.
“You never know. Even Father did at times.”
I shook him off. “Raewyn came to me. 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 I am under 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 dragon might have 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 was ever on 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.
Stellon nodded. Agreed.
“So what’s our plan? What are we going to do to get her back?” Raewyn asked.
“We are not doing anything, love,” I told her. “You’re staying here where it’s safe. Stellon and I will go.”
“What?” Raewyn’s eyes communicated disbelief, and her tone said she’d stab me with something sharp if I attempted to leave her behind.
“For the last time, Pharis. I don’t care about being safe,” she said. “I can help you with the Earthwife.”
“Stellon and I can handle it,” I said.
“I agree,” Stellon said. “You shouldn’t go. The Earthwives would be happy to have you, too.”
Raewyn’s face reddened, her hands going to her hips.
“I can’t believe you two. Turi is my sister.”
Turning to me, she asked, “Why make me train my glamour if you’re not going to let me use it?”
For a long moment, I stared at her. Then I spoke to her mind to mind.
It’s too dangerous. I can’t lose you.
Raewyn reached up and cradled one side of my jaw in her hand. Her eyes were wet.
I know your fears, she reminded me. And I don’t want to lose you any more than you want to lose me. Have some faith. We can do this. Together. And once Turi is safe… we need to talk.
I nodded, inhaling what felt like the first real breath I’d taken in weeks.
“So you think the witch took her back to Hill Town?” I asked Stellon.
“She has no reason to hide her. She thinks we had a deal,” he said.
“Then that’s where we’ll start.”
Raewyn squeezed my hand, looking tense. “I hope she’s there.”
“I hope she’s alone,” Stellon said. “One Earthwife is powerful. An entire coven…”
“What do you mean?” Raewyn asked.
“A group of about thirty witches did the locator spell, all working together. They might still be gathered.”
“I know how we can find out.” I started walking toward the stairs, heading toward my suite.
The enchanted mirror would give us a preview of what waited for us in Hill Town or wherever the Earthwives might have Turi.
Whatever it was, I would get the girl back.
Raewyn had returned to me. She needed me.
It didn’t matter if it was as a last resort, she’d chosen to put her faith in me again.
I would literally die before letting her down.