Page 102 of Heart’s Rescue

Rowan

Epilogue - Expert Advice

“So, uh, can I ask you a question?”

My cheeks are already burning, despite the ice pellets raining down all around us, and I know how freaking stupid this is going to sound, but I have to know. I need expert advice here. I’m way out of my depths.

“Yes, of course,” Phaedron answers.

And of course he answers that, because he’s an unapologetically good guy.

“You’re looking good,” I say.

Phaedron stops walking and turns to raise an eyebrow at me. But it’s true, he is looking good. He’s still holding his torso a little stiffly, but if you’d just met the guy, you wouldn’t even notice. And he’s walking around outside now, which is also a good sign.

“That’s not a question,” Phaedron says.

“Ah, nothing escapes you, Phae!” I reply.

I raise my hand to clap him on the back, then freeze and awkwardly drop it. Right. He’s recovered enough to walk to the World’s End pub with me and back, but not quite enough for me to be slapping him around. Yet. Phaedron’s eyebrows inch higher in a sign of I’m waiting.

“It’s, ah. It’s Arryn,” I stammer.

My cheeks are blazing like the void. I raise my mittened hand and rub the ragged edges of my ears.

“Do you think,” I begin, then stop. “Do you think she’s, uh, happy?”

For just a heartbeat, Phaedron looks like he’s about to laugh. Then he composes himself, turns, and continues his stiff walk toward the pub.

“You’re asking if the woman who sounded like she had four orgasms last night is happy?” he asks.

And there it is. Just when I thought I couldn’t possibly get any more humiliated, Phaedron unlocks yet another dungeon-like level of my utter embarrassment.

“Yeah,” I say, rubbing my hand over my cheeks. “Sorry about that.”

Phaedron shrugs, then winces slightly.

“Oh, fair’s fair, brother,” he replies. “I’ve kept you up plenty of nights.”

That is true. If I had a copper for every time I’d tried to fall asleep with my pillow jammed over my head while Phaedron made some woman scream on the other side of the ridiculously thin wall between our bedrooms, well, then I could buy the entire village of World’s End. And a lot of good that would do me, too.

“Well,” I stammer. “We, ah, had a rough time this morning. You know.”

Phaedron smiles under the shadows of his hood. “I know.”

It’s my turn to wince. Arryn had asked if it would kill me to pick up my socks once in a while, and I’d made some smart-ass comment about how she must miss having servants, and then she’d gone into the bedroom and slammed the door.

My door. To my bedroom.

That’s when I’d asked Phaedron if he wanted to go to the pub. It wasn’t for the beer, because even I have standards about drinking heavily before midday. It was to check for mail. I’d sent good old magically re-awakened Captain Orryen a letter suggesting I might consider working with the king’s magicians after all if I had a few more personal items to entertain me while we wait for them to pick a plan. Like a chessboard.

I sigh and ask Phaedron the inevitable. “Was I an asshole this morning?”

“Yes,” my brother answers, without hesitation. “Are you surprised?”

“Voids.” I kick at the ice under my feet. “Nah, I’m not surprised. I just— She gave up everything to be here, you know? And she gets, voids. She gets me. In exchange for her entire life as a lady, or whatever.” I huff out a sigh. “What a crap deal.”

“Rowan.”