“Bas,” Terrina whispered.
Ethenn bristled at the nickname.
But Bastien softened. “Welcome, Ethenn,” he said tightly. “Let me apologize before anything else is said for our...misunderstanding when last we met.”
And yet still, Ethenn couldn’t breathe. He’d killed the man. He’d solved his sister’s problem. And yet, the bloody man survived.
Terrina straightened. “Ethenn,” she said, a strange authority entering her voice. She had one hand on her husband’s shoulder and the other on her pregnant belly. “Bastien didn’t realize who you were the last time you met. I explained everything to him, and he regrets his hasty actions. He recognizes that he was just as much to blame for his accident as you.”
Ethenn held Bastien’s coal-black gaze. “You should be dead,” he said flatly.
A haughty expression lifted the older man’s brow. “Some men have all the luck,” he said.
Terrina’s hand tightened on his shoulder.
Bastien adjusted in his seat. “I wasn’t as gravely injured as you presumed,” he explained. “While I am still recovering, the doctor assures me that I’ll walk again. Though likely with a cane. I am an old man, after all.” He said the last bit with a wry grin, glancing up at Terrina, who smiled fondly at him.
Terrina turned back to her brother. “Despite our strange start,” she said, “Bas and I have come to an understanding over the last several months.”
“Being at the mercy of others forces you to obtain perspective,” Bastien said dryly. “At least, when your nurse is Rina.”
Terrina giggled lightly. “I helped Bas see that his purchase of me was due to infatuation and not love,” she said. “But together, we decided that we’d try to find love anyway. Especially for the sake of our little one.”
A strange expression came over Bastien’s face as he gripped Terrina’s hand, which still rested on his shoulder. Ethenn couldn’t determine whether it was regret, agitation, or hope.
Ethenn refused to believe any of it. “He bought you, Rin. You’re just another of his acquisitions.”
Bastien’s jaw tightened. “I would request your respect while a guest in my house,” he said threateningly. Though Ethenn didn’t know what the cripple thought he could do to him in that chair. But then it wasn’t Ethenn who was at the man’s mercy.
It was Terrina.
The merchant might have duped his sweet sister with his lies, but Ethenn wouldn’t be fooled. However, he wouldn’t let his sister be punished for his actions either.
Bastien Muirren was a clever bastard. His manipulation and underhanded scheme were lauded in the shady corners of Trollenston. The man had shown up to some of Ethenn’s fights in the past, spending illicit evenings in The Wanderer. He couldn’t believe that the man had sought redemption. Not when he had possession of his beloved sister—his only remaining immediate family.
“What will it take?” Ethenn asked.
“Pardon?” Bastien replied, eyes narrowing.
Ethenn nodded to Terrina. “I want to purchase my sister back,” he said. “What will it take to have you sign her under my headship?”
Terrina gasped in disbelief while Bastien blinked shrewdly.
“You want to purchase her from me?” he said.
Ethenn held his gaze with unfaltering intensity. “Name your price.”
Bastien cocked his head. “It isn’t just my wife you’d be taking. It’d be my child.”
“So the price goes up.” Ethenn shrugged, waving away the comment with flippant nonchalance. “What’re they worth to you? You paid thirty gold for Terrina. Would you like to double it? And what about your child? We’ll sign over any rights toinheritance so you can sire another heir and not have to worry about us coming for your money.”
“Ethenn!” Terrina objected.
He ignored her. “Forsaken rights and, what? A hundred gold?”
“Two hundred,” Bastien said. “Each.”
Ethenn grinned. “Four hundred gold and a letter denying inheritance. Deal.”
