“Ethenn,” she exclaimed in a low whisper, leaping from the seat. She whirled, rushing to him.
Ethenn couldn’t help his smile, catching her in his embrace. She smelled like lilies and other rich scents he couldn’t name. And something was decidedly different about her frame as he held her. She didn’t feel right in his arms.
Pulling back, Ethenn looked at his sister’s face. “Hi there, Rin,” he said gently.
Terrina’s expression was pinched with a smile even as tears filled her eyes. “I’ve missed you,” she said. “I didn’t know where you’d gone, and—and they said you joined the army, but...I couldn’t believe you’d leave me like that.”
“I didn’t have a choice, Rin,” he said sadly. “You know that.”
She shook her head, hand absentmindedly drifting to her stomach.
That’s when Ethenn realized what was so off about her figure.
“Rin,” he gasped, eyes locked on the protruding roundness of her stomach. “Are you—?”
Terrina’s smile softened. She used both hands to cup her pregnant belly, the flowing white cotton nightdress underneathher robe growing taut. “Only another couple of months, now,” she said. “He’s to be a Pyra baby like you.”
Ethenn gaped at his sister. She was five months pregnant, with less than eighty days left before she gave birth.
“He?” Ethenn asked.
Terrina shrugged. “Well, obviously, I don’t know, but... He feels like a boy.”
Ethenn’s stomach roiled. The bastard had gotten her pregnant. At least it wasn’t out of wedlock, and Terrina had inherited the house and fortune. But still....
Four months ago, Ethenn had returned from a three-week-long hunting trip. He always hated leaving his sister for such extended periods of time, but there was nothing he could do. He’d moved out of Vernon’s home the moment he could afford it, providing a menial room for himself above the butcher’s shop. But when their father died, guardianship of Terrina had legally passed to their uncle. Though Ethenn contested to have her moved under his headship, there was no precedent in Ephria for a brother to become a woman’s authority. Magistrate Steevensun followed the law, which stated that a woman was under the headship of her father or her husband. As Terrina had neither, it fell to whomever her father deemed worthy in his will. In this case, that was Vernon Loxley.
Their father hadn’t known how dreadfully his choice would turn out, of course. He could never have expected to die so early or that his brother would be so cruel to his children. But Vernon was interested in only one thing: his success. Upon the inheritance of two new wards, he only asked how his niece and nephew could benefit him.
Even at the age of twelve, Ethenn was required to work twice as hard to find ways to pay for their survival. Though he’d managed to escape from their uncle’s household, Terrina was forced to stay under his roof. So Ethenn still had to pay for herlivelihood. He hunted, he smithed, and he fought. During the few hours of the day he wasn’t working, he was with Terrina or drinking in The Wanderer.
But when Ethenn returned from his hunt those fateful months ago, Terrina wasn’t at home.
When he asked his aunt where she’d gone, the woman’s lips turned up snidely. “With her husband,” she said.
Ethenn had never been so angry. In his absence, his uncle had sold his sister off like chattel. Bastien Muirren, a thirty-eight-year-old merchant known for his cruelly cunning business deals, had spotted the then-seventeen-year-old Terrina Loxley at a town dance. Bastien had returned from his stint in the army six years prior and begun to build his empire through the funds and connections he’d made during his military career. A shrewd man with a penchant for good luck at cards, he’d managed to secure himself a hefty stipend to set up his business. And his profits only grew.
Evidently, Bastien Muirren’s success in business instilled in him the belief that he could buy anything, including his wife.
Upon noticing Terrina’s great beauty, Bastien approached Vernon Loxley and offered a hefty bridal price. Vernon hadn’t hesitated to accept the deal, which was to excuse him from paying the dowry in exchange for thirty gold crowns. It was far too easy a price to accept.
And far too cheap by Ethenn’s estimation.
His sister was worth far more than meager coins. And yet, she hadn’t been given a choice.
Upon learning of Terrina’s marriage, Ethenn hurried to the Muirren estate. He found his sister alone in this very room, just as he had tonight. And he’d begged her to leave with him. “I have enough money,” he said. “We can go to Olbury, buy passage across the sea to Schon, and neither Uncle nor Muirren will be able to come for you. They wouldn’t dare.”
Yet, Terrina had rejected his rescue. “I have a duty to my husband,” she told him.
“You don’t love him,” he objected.
“No, but...Bastien is a good man,” Terrina said. “He’s been kind, gentle, and affectionate. He knows I don’t love him yet, but he said he hopes to earn it in time.”
“Purchase it, you mean.”
Terrina shook her head. “You know I’d never love a man for what he can give me.”
“Muirren isn’t a good man,” he argued. “He’s a snake. He makes underhanded deals, gambles, and cheats. The only reason he’s good to you now is because he wants something from you. You’re a toy to him, Rin. He’ll grow bored with you, and all this goodness you believe he has will disappear. You’ll be alone and mistreated. And I won’t stand by while that happens.”
