"Besides, I told you in my letters not to come back on your own. When the time was right, I would have sent someone to bring you."
I held my daughter tight and stared at him in cold silence.
Five years apart, and Finn looked even more handsome than before. Younger, somehow.
His robes were made of the finest fabric, the cuffs embroidered with gold thread.
My daughter and I, by contrast, were dressed in rags. Our rough-spun clothes had more holes than I could count.
"Husband, didn't you promise me yourself? You said within three years, you would send someone to bring me back to the capital. It's been five."
Finn's expression darkened, though a flicker of panic crossed his eyes.
"Narelle, I will bring you back. But not now. The manor is hosting a banquet for high-ranking officials and dignitaries. Take the child and leave. We'll talk later."
He slipped a heavy pouch of silver into my hands, expecting me to take the money, walk away, and pretend we had nothing to do with each other.
I smiled coldly, opened the pouch, and turned it upside down. Silver ingots clattered across the stone ground.