“You are a powerful man. You will see to it that she is.”
Byron swallowed, nodding.
Meera thanked him with a smile for the packages he’d had delivered, but her smile slipped away when he told her he was leaving.
“This is your house. You will serve only yourself from now on.” He placed a small purse filled with gold coin on the table. “This is yours. There will be more. I’ve seen to it.”
Her eyes rose to his, dark and knowing, and his confusion and frustration writhed within him. She didn’t argue or count the money. She watched him walk from the house without asking him to take her with him, but he condemned himself with every step.
His horse had been readied, his men assembled, and within minutes they were riding back through the streets of Solemn, the farewell far different than the
