“The truth?” I laughed, stepping back from the fire. The burn was back in my throat, threatening to overwhelm me. “Will you add my name to the walls once you hand me over? I’ll be dead eventually. That’s the truth. So, don’t say things like that.”
“But it’s not the truth. Not at all,” he said, his gaze catching and holding mine. “It’s why we must marry.”
“Why are you so adamant about the marriage?” I demanded. “It makes no sense.”
“But it does. It’s the only way I can get what I want, and ensure you stay alive. Hopefully so you can live a long, free life.”
Chapter 10
“What?” I repeated, this time barely above a whisper. Live a long life? Free? How was that possible if he got what he wanted—his brother’s freedom in exchange for my captivity?
“Will you let me try to make sense of it for you? I’m not asking you to trust me.”
“Trusting you is not something you have to worry about.”
He leaned back, the line of his jaw hardening. “Neither am I asking for your forgiveness, Penellaphe.”
The use of my formal name was jarring, sending my heart racing as it silenced all the bitter words rushing to the tip of my tongue.
“I know what I’ve done to you is not something that can be forgotten,” he continued. “All I’m asking is that you listen to what I have to say. And, hopefully, we will come to an agreement.”
I forced myself to nod. My need to understand what he was suggesting far outweighed my desire to argue with him. “I…I will listen.”
There was a slight widening of his eyes as if he expected me to refuse, and then his brow smoothed. “Remember when I left to speak with my father? Of course, you do,” he added after a moment. “That was when Jericho went after you.” The line of his jaw tightened. “My father hadn’t been able to show, sending Alastir in his place. There had been issues at home that he had to attend to.”
“Issues with the wolven and running out of land?” I surmised.
He nodded. “Not now, but soon, with the scarcity of the land, we will have a lack of food and other resources.”
A small part of me was surprised that he had answered the question. “When Alastir spoke to Kieran, it sounded like the people of New Haven would be leaving for Atlantia soon.”
“They will be.”
“Because you took me, and the Ascended will come here, looking for me.”
His gaze met mine. “There were plans to move them to Atlantia before I took you. My actions move up that timeframe, but the lack of land wouldn’t have been resolved before then.”
I thought that over. “So, the resources are about to be stretched even further.”
“They will be, but we’re not at the breaking point. Not yet,” he said. “Some want a more aggressive stance on alleviating our shortages. Many of the wolven are among that group, as many Atlantians are. Some of the conversations surrounding what should be done have grown heated, and that is why my father had to remain behind.”
Casteel rose then, walking to a small table under the window. He picked up a glass decanter full of some kind of amber-colored liquid that I suspected was liquor. “Would you like a drink? If I recall, you liked to sneak a whiskey or two with Tawny.”
Tawny.
I wanted to see her so badly, to know for sure that she was okay. But if she had been here…
I briefly closed my eyes, hoping Tawny was safe. More than ever, I was grateful that she wasn’t here. She could’ve become an issue dealt with in the same way Phillips and the other guards had been.
Drawing in a deep breath, I opened my eyes and asked, “Would you have killed her? Tawny? If she had traveled with me, would you have killed her?”
Casteel paused as he reached for a glass and then gripped it, pouring the whiskey until the glass was half full. “I don’t make a habit of killing innocent women.” He poured a second glass. “I would’ve done all that I could to ensure that it would not have been necessary, but her presence could’ve caused a complication that I wouldn’t wish to solve.”
Meaning that, if he had to, he would have. However, he had ensured that the situation hadn’t arisen by forbidding Tawny to travel with me. I didn’t know how to feel about that. What was right or wrong there? None of this meant that Tawny was entirely safe, though. She was destined to Ascend.
But would her or any of the Lords and Ladies in Wait Ascend now that I was missing? All the Ascensions in the kingdom were tied to mine. They still had Casteel’s brother, and they had to have another Atlantian to keep the Prince alive. Without me, they could proceed with the Ascension, unless…