Page 28

Chapter 28

Avery

A s soon as they were mostly out of earshot, Avery turned on Elliot.

“What happened back there?” she asked in hushed tones. “The lamp wasn’t that far away, and yet you seemed excessively weak. You looked like you were about to die!”

Elliot blinked, looking disappointed. What had he been expecting her to say? Or hadn’t he been expecting her to say anything at all? Had he thought she might throw herself into his arms?

A flush rose up her cheeks, but she managed to keep her expression calm and expectant as she waited for his answer.

“It was thrown through the air,” he said, “and then kicked by multiple feet. Did it get damaged? I don’t know for sure if that would affect the bond, but after what happened when the brass was melted down by the smith…”

He was still talking when someone burst from the trees and sprinted the final few steps to reach them. Avery turned toward the newcomer but hadn’t gotten a proper view of him before he snatched the lamp from her unsuspecting hand and retreated again.

She tried to reach for it, but it was gone from her grasp before she had properly realized what was happening.

The thief didn’t go far, however, stopping several yards away—far enough to be safe from their immediate reach, but close enough to converse. Avery gasped. It was Rene.

Her abductor had followed them all the way to Bolivere, and now he had the lamp. What was he doing there?

“If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I don’t think I’d believe it,” Rene said wonderingly, staring from the lamp to Elliot.

Avery gulped audibly. What exactly had Rene seen? She tried to remember what she’d just said and what he might have observed.

“The person in the shadows was you?” Elliot asked disbelievingly. “You were there at the cave mouth, watching the battle?”

“No,” Rene said with a disturbing smile, “I was watching you.”

Avery’s flush receded, leaving her pale. Rene had seen what none of the archers had noticed. He had seen Elliot weaken and then seen him regain his strength when Avery brought the lamp to him. And then her own words had confirmed it.

She was going to be sick.

Elliot gripped her arm, pulling her slightly to the side and behind him, as if to shield her from Rene.

“I don’t know what you think you saw,” he said in a creditable imitation of nonchalance, although Avery could feel the tension in his arm. “But I want no more of your nonsense than my father did. Don’t think I’ll give you clemency just because you’re my uncle.”

Avery’s jaw dropped. Rene was Elliot’s uncle? Why had he never mentioned that?

“Sorry,” Elliot whispered as if on cue, although he didn’t take his gaze from Rene. “I only just discovered it myself yesterday.”

For some reason his reassurance comforted her. He had been keeping secrets about his past, but he hadn’t been concealing a known connection with her abductors.

The smile on Rene’s face didn’t falter, however.

“Clemency?” He laughed. “I think it will be me granting you clemency, not the other way around. If I feel like it, of course. And only if you do what I tell you. Whatever I tell you.”

“Do I need to speak even more plainly?” Elliot asked, his voice steady although his hand trembled. “You are not welcome here. It’s time for you to leave.”

“Oh, really?” Rene raised his eyebrows. “I can leave if you like, but I think I’ll take this lamp with me. Its purpose in Bolivere has been served now, so you can’t begrudge me something so small.”

He started backing up, his eyes still on Elliot. Avery felt the tremble in Elliot’s hand spread through his body, and she cried out involuntarily.

“No! Stop! Don’t go any further.”

“So, it is like that,” Rene almost purred, making Avery bite down on her tongue.

She should have kept her mouth shut. But, on the other hand, if he’d kept retreating, he would have seen the truth with his own eyes soon enough. Elliot’s mother was a deeply flawed woman, but she had been right about the risk of someone discovering his secret.

“Don’t worry, nephew,” Rene said. “I’ll let you stay close to me. And in return, you’ll finally let me back into my childhood home. I could kill you, of course, but that Corbett has made it clear he’ll go to any lengths to keep me from taking my brother’s place. I’m told my brother’s public repudiation of me would give grounds for a legal challenge to the inheritance. I might be mired in legal challenges for years. This way will be much better. No one can protest your inheritance, or any orders you may choose to issue—including the reinstatement of your uncle. The town will soon see how inseparable we’ve become, and they’ll have to accept me eventually.”

He gave an oily smile that told Avery exactly what he intended to do with Elliot when that day eventually came.

Elliot’s tremors returned, except maybe it wasn’t him trembling but Avery doing so, the shaking running up the hand he still had protectively on her arm.

“Elliot?” Corbett also stepped out of the trees, smiling when he saw Elliot on his feet and appearing unharmed. But the moment his eyes fell on Rene, lightning shot across his face.

“Clarence!” he thundered, stepping toward him. “I’ve told you?—”

“That my dead brother was still alive?” Rene asked acidly before the earlier unsettling smile crept back over his face. “But the truth has been revealed, and now my nephew is in charge. He’s just been telling me that he intends to give me a second chance and welcome me back into the family. Isn’t that right, Elliot?”

Several more men appeared at Corbett’s back, a rumble spreading through them as they spotted Rene.

“Elliot?” Corbett asked. “What is he talking about?” He looked mostly confused, but Avery caught a whisper of uncertainty at the back of his eyes, and it made her heart twist.

He was wondering if he’d misjudged Elliot, and she couldn’t bear to see Elliot lose the trust of his father’s steward because of a monster like Rene. She would explain everything, and...

But the lamp had disappeared from Rene’s hands. He had hidden it away somewhere on his person, and Avery could imagine how delusional she would sound if she started babbling about Elliot being tied to a lamp. It might have been a little more convincing coming from him, but he said nothing.

With every moment that he remained silent, Corbett’s concern visibly grew while Rene’s satisfied smile stretched wider. Avery stared pleadingly up at Elliot, willing him to say something—do something.

But if he saw her, he gave no indication of it. His eyes were trained on Corbett, as if he held answers Elliot had been seeking.

Finally he shook himself and turned to Rene. “You can use that lamp to threaten me, Rene, and there’s little I can do to stop you. But you can’t use it to access my father’s wealth or power.”

Rene’s smile didn’t falter. “I think you’ll find I’m the one in control now, nephew. Unless you’d like to explain the situation to all these men?” He seemed certain Elliot wouldn’t want to expose his weakness to so many.

But Elliot didn’t flinch. He raised his voice to be heard clearly by everyone present. “All of you can bear witness to my declaration. I hereby gift my manor at Bolivere, its associated wealth, and the authority that comes with it to Corbett, my current steward.”

Silence greeted his words, but he gave a satisfied smile and turned back to Rene. “So as you see,” he finished, “it doesn’t matter how you threaten me. I can’t give you what isn’t mine.”

Avery gaped at him. He looked…happy. Or perhaps that wasn’t quite right. He looked lighter, as if he’d finally released a heavy burden. Could that mean he was truly pleased about what he’d done?

“Nonsense!” Rene blustered, his anger betraying his fear. “You can’t do that. If you don’t want your inheritance, it passes to the next heir. The manor and the family fortune are mine.”

Elliot raised an eyebrow. “I think you’ll find this has nothing to do with inheritance. I’ve already accepted my inheritance, and I can produce any number of witnesses who will attest that I ate at my father’s table last night and slept in the master room at the manor. And now, having received my inheritance, it’s mine to do with as I will. Including gifting it to my worthy friend, Corbett.”

“Are you serious?” Corbett finally found his voice. “You can’t be.”

Elliot’s determined expression didn’t change for Corbett any more than it had for Rene. “I’ve never been more serious. The person who has been protecting Bolivere in my father’s place isn’t me, Corbett, it’s you. Unlike me, you’ve earned your place as leader of this town, and you should have the house and resources that go with the position.”

One of the men gave a cheer, and the others joined in, silencing the protests Rene was still trying to make. In the face of their response, he must have realized Bolivere would accept Elliot’s declaration. His face turned ugly.

“You should have taken my offer when you had the chance, nephew,” he said. “Because I believe in repaying one dirty move with another.”

Before Avery realized his intentions, he dashed into the trees, racing away from Corbett and his men. She pushed Elliot in his direction, finally breaking Elliot’s grasp of her arm.

“Quick!” she gasped. “Run after him. It’s your only…” Her voice trailed off as Elliot remained in place, smiling down at her.

She grabbed both his arms, ready to steady him if he stumbled and fell. But he remained straight, his face calm and his color normal.

“What’s happening?” she cried, utterly confused. He had reacted so strongly in the cave, how could he still look so healthy now? The sounds of Rene crashing through the underbrush were growing fainter and fainter.

Corbett signaled several of the men, and they took off after Rene. Avery didn’t even see them go, her full focus on Elliot.

“I felt it,” he murmured to her. “When I turned my inheritance over to Corbett, I felt something inside me shift. I guess we didn’t need a bargain after all, just a sacrifice.”

Avery swallowed, her mouth dry. “You mean…your tie to the lamp is gone? It’s really gone? You’re not going to be affected no matter how far Rene goes?”

Elliot nodded, his smile growing bigger and brighter. “I think so. I feel fine so far.”

“But that means…” Avery trailed off, not sure what she wanted to say. The maelstrom of emotions inside her were far too contradictory.

The joy on Elliot’s behalf was strong, of course, as well as relief that the immediate crisis was averted. But her promise to help free him from the lamp had been the only bond left between them, the only tie holding them together beyond Bolivere. And he had just achieved it on his own.

“What now?” she whispered, looking up at him, her heart in her eyes.

He stepped closer, drawing her into his arms despite the men who still remained nearby.

“Now, I’m free,” he murmured, staring into her eyes before his gaze dropped to her lips.

Those two words had been a dirge in her mind, but he transformed them into a victory shout and a confession. Nothing had ever sounded sweeter.

He lowered his head to hers, and her breath caught as his lips hovered just above hers. He spoke, the words causing his mouth to brush against hers in the lightest of touches.

“I’m all yours now, Avery.”

She rose onto her toes, pressing her lips hard against his. He responded instantly, tightening his hold on her waist and deepening the kiss.

The old ties that had bound them were gone, but new ones wove around them as their lips joined, the new ones weaving through their hearts.