I lifted my lantern, adding its glow to the barely lit candle flickering on the floor. I edged forward, my gaze moving over the man propped against the top rail of a metal pallet. A ratty gray blanket covered his legs, and his arms were outstretched, each of his thin wrists restrained with cuffs and pulled back against hooks.
His face was gaunt, his coal-black hair long and shaggy, and his eyes—
I ducked my head, but not before I’d seen they were the same shade as Guy’s with that beautiful rim of silver. “You look just like him,” I murmured.
“Like who?” His voice was raspy, deeper than Guy’s and full of cynicism.
“Your son.” I should have expected the likeness since we didn’t physically age.
“Guy better look a lot healthier than me. How do you know my son?”
“I’m Silvie.” I shuffled closer. “Guy and I are soul-bound, although since I’m a Peacian, it didn’t work out.”
He let out a snort of breath. “Unbelievable. You’re truly his mate?”
“Yes. I brought you a meal, that’s if you’ll accept it.”
“We don’t get fed any more than the scraps in here. Of course I’ll accept it. Come closer.”
I crossed and sat as close as needed.
“Is that—” He jerked on his iron bindings. “—my wife’s ring? You spoke the truth?”
From my finger, it glinted in the candlelight.
“Yes.” I removed the plate’s foil covering. “Guy said to tell you not to harm me, to show you the ring as proof.” I picked up the knife and fork I’d set beside the slab of beef and cut a small slice of meat.
“I can’t harm anyone trussed up like this.” He jiggled his legs under the blanket and his chains scraped together.
“Take this slowly, okay?” I slid the fork between his opened lips. Oh my, his eyes were so piercing, like Guy’s. I missed looking into Guy’s eyes.
“You don’t appear afraid of me.” His stomach rumbled as he ate.
“Honestly? I haven’t seen Guy for a bit, and it’s kind of nice seeing you. The similarities and all. I made the same meal for Guy. He wants to know how you are.”
“Hungry for more.” He jerked his head toward the plate. “Please.”
I speared a cube of roasted potato and pumpkin and fed it to him next.
He chewed, mumbling around his mouthful. “He would love this. It tastes just like the roasts his mother used to make.”
I cut another piece of beef and swirled it through the gravy then popped it into his mouth. “He misses her, and you, badly.”
“You sound as if you’ve gotten to know him.”
“I have. He has a heart of gold. I’ll miss him.”
“Tell him I love him. That the moment these buffoons slip up, even once, I’ll come to him.”
“Buffoons?” I fed him some of the beans.
“Hey, not the greens, the meat. I need to build my strength.”
I forked even more of the beans and slipped it between his lips. “Take back the buffoons comment and I will.”
He let out a spurt of laughter, one which caught him by surprise by the look in his eyes. “Sure, but I’ll only take it back if you promise me the meat.”
“I promise.”
“Lots of gravy too.” He licked his lips. “And they’re not buffoons. They’re angels, and always granting me my every wish.”
I laughed. “Angels? You really must want the meat.” I cut a large slab and fed him.
He half finished his mouthful before he mumbled his response. “Enchanters are wise, clever and very sneaky. Have you not learned that from Guy yet?”
“I agree to the wise and clever, but sneaky?” I continued feeding him, until not a smear of food remained on the plate.
“Guy’s mother and I could never keep him pinned to one place. As a child, he was as mischievous as ten children put together.”
Oh, I could listen to tales about Guy all day. “I’m glad to have met him, and you, no matter the circumstances. I want to come again, although, I need to ask a favor. I want you to accept something else from me.”
“That depends.”
“Guy won’t take his mother’s ring back, but it’s not truly mine. I don’t think I can move on while I’m still holding onto it. And, well, you’re the only person I can safely give this to, in the hope that one day it’ll get back to him. It should stay with your family.” I slid the ring from my finger. “Guy said to say he loved you too, and that he would see you freed, although don’t count on that last part, not considering where you are.”
“I can’t take the ring.” A tear formed in the corner of his eye. “As much as I long to.”
“Why not?”
“Silvie who? What last name did Guy give you?”
“How did you—”
“It was foretold, by his mother. Did Guy give you his last name?”
“Um, yeah, but only under duress. I don’t hold it anymore.”
He pulled on his shackles, jarring them against his wrists. “Put the ring back on. It’s enchanted, Silvie. Before his mother gave it to him she had me cast a spell over it, one which would ensure it would find its way to the woman he would name as his. The spell would draw you together. She had the all-seeing eye, and the spell she had me create was strong. It was bound by the endless circle of love within it.”