Page 44 of The Pactbound Angel (The Soul Mirror Duet #1)

I chuckled softly, absently wrapping a stray thread from my shirt around my finger. “If my mother wanted to put an axe through your head, you would have an axe in your head. She tends to not balk. And my father?”

A twinkle in his eyes lit his face. “Oh, he puts on a good show, stoic and hard, but he’s actually a complete pillow. Also, I see where you and your sister get your mannerisms. Though Raewyn is far more like your mother, you are the split image of your father.”

Chuckling louder, my smirk mirrored his. “That sounds about right.” My smirk faded. “Why did you not tell me how you knew them?”

He shook his head. “It distresses you when I cannot discuss things, and I cannot discuss this. It would be teasing you with information I could not elaborate on. They were business contacts.”

“Am I not also a business contact?”

He grinned again, white canines almost piercing his lip. He hummed, bobbing his head back and forth as though weighing my question. “In a sense.”

My smirk returned, and the impulse to kiss him was intense. I leaned in, but his grin vanished instantly as he emphatically shook his head.

Furrowing my eyebrows, confused, I stopped and straightened. Intense embarrassment filled me with shame. I shot up from the chair, looking anywhere but him. “I… I’d better go to bed.”

“Nat!”

Already disoriented and flushed, I spun to see Raewyn behind me, standing at the tent’s entrance. Did she see that?

“Evening, Raewyn. I thought I heard someone rustling around out there,” Ramiren said, smiling at her.

Oh.

Wait, did he refuse because he heard her outside or because I crossed a line?

Raewyn chuckled at Ramiren, then stepped forward to nudge me with her elbow. “Going to bed? I looked in your tent, but you weren’t there.”

“Oh. Yes, I was just leaving. Did you need something?”

Raewyn pouted. “My pillows. The ones here are flat and awful. ”

“Oh, certainly, let me get them.” When looking back at Ramiren, realizing what he just averted by refusing me, he had gone back to reading his contract, humming the melody to Seasons Change to himself.

Ramiren called out as we left the tent, “Good night, ladies.”

The next morning, Raewyn walked up to me as I was folding my tent down to stuff back into my pouch. “Ready for me to take your pillows back, Raewyn?”

She seemed distracted. “Hm? Oh, yes, but that’s not why I came over here.”

Dropping the tent to give her my full attention, I asked, “What did you need?”

She crossed her arms over her chest, almost petulantly. “We need to get you bedded, Nathalia.”

“Oh, for-” My head dropped forward with a frustrated growl. “Blessings and damnation, Raewyn,” I snapped, exhaustion and frustration leaking into my voice. “Not this stupid business again.”

She spoke with certainty, “The next town, we’re finding someone for you.”

“That will not be happening.” I thought of Ramiren, and how important consent and permission was for him.

Raewyn, it seemed, did not receive that same lesson in her own studies.

If I had said no to Ramiren, I never would’ve heard another word of it.

“Now, stop it with this incessant need to invade and control my life.”

She scowled. “It’s not control. It's concern. You’re wasting your life waiting for something that might not ever happen. You’re being stubborn .”

The reasons for my stubborn refusal had been outright stated. Multiple times. “Yes, and well I should be. There’s one man out there for me, Raewyn.” I lifted my index finger toward her. “One. And I highly doubt he’s in the next town.”

“Maybe you’ve already met him, Nat, and you just don’t realize it yet. No need to point him out if you’re blind, though.” She smirked, then waved a hand as though unconcerned. “The next town is the capital of Wistran. It’s a big place. Anything is possible.”

Deciding to ignore the first part of her argument, I redirected instead. “Remember what we were told from the earliest age we could understand? Safeguard your virtue, for it is a precious thing.”

Raewyn narrowed her eyes. “I think you’re forgetting that Dad never told me that.” She suddenly smiled brightly. “How long have Mom and Dad been married again?”

My annoyed look clearly amused her. “Twenty-seven years. You know that.”

Raewyn bit her lip, as though trying to not laugh. “And you’re twenty-seven. Almost twenty-eight.”

What does that have to do with anything?

“Yes, Raewyn, I can do the math. I was born five months after their wedding. Mother was pregnant with me before they got married.”

She smirked. “So, Dad is a hypocrite. You’re following the teachings of a hypocrite.”

“No, not a hypocrite. They knew they were going to be wed.” I shrugged, unconcerned.

“Still, if he expects you to wait until you are married or whatever before bedding another, then he is a do as I say, not as I do type.”

I frowned deeply.

Wait.

“No. No, that’s not it at-”

“Sorry, Nat, but this is why I preferred Mom’s company. He put these silly ideas in your head about purity and waiting and blah blah blah. Maybe not even on purpose. Virtue means a lot of things. Besides, do you really think Dad waited until he met Mom to lose his virginity? ”

Extremely inappropriate, sister. My tired eyes burned. My head hurt, and I was well past done with this conversation. “That is not something I care to think about.”

She looked genuinely confused. “Why not? You seem to believe he thinks about your virginity.”

I gawked at her. “Because he’s our father , Raewyn. His sexual history is none of our business, and I’d prefer to not ponder it.”

She rolled her eyes, as though my words were foolish.

“Parents are sexual creatures too, Nat. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be here.

” She turned to walk away, then spun around.

“And the answer is no. He did not wait. Mom told me he was quite the ladies’ man while they traveled together, before they realized their love and married.

So, put that in your pipe and smoke it.”