Page 72 of Bull Moon Rising

And even if I did, he’d probably murder me in our marriage bed once his claim on Honori Hold was secure. He wouldn’t need me any longer, and a widower can marry again, of course. So no, marrying to solve my problems isn’t the answer, much as I might entertain the idea for a brief, shining moment.

I chew on the last of the onion, hoping that my breath is fragrant and terrible, and raise a hand in the air to signal him. He can come to me, I decide, and not the other way around. So I sip my beer and watch as another magical onion rolls into the basket. The barmaid grabs it off the top, slices it into quarters with a deft knife, and then wedges them onto the rims of four more mugs and sends them flying down the counter. She knows her stuff, and I’m impressed.

Then Barnabus is standing in front of me, a look of regal horror on his face as he eyes my rumpled, damp clothing and my frizzy hair that’s probably fallen completely out of its knot at my nape. I smile tightly at him, wondering if we’re going to bother with a polite hug and cheek kiss of greeting as all holders do.

He moves toward me and oh, I guess we are. “Barnabus,” I exhale as I say his name, brushing my cheek against his and making sure to get a lot of oniony air into my words.

Barnabus recoils, gazing up and down at me. “My gods, Aspeth, look at you. How has it come to this? What are you doing in this cesspool of a city?”

“Come to what?” I flutter my lashes and decide to play it stupid. “And I’m just visiting friends. What areyoudoing here?”

“Visiting friends? In that? Hardly.” He flicks a hand at my clothing. It’s creased from sitting in my trunk and covered in cat hair, and the colors are unflattering, but I didn’t think it was that bad. “Are you actually working with the guild? In thedirt?”

It’s more a matter of “excavating” than digging in the dirt. And I haven’t even gotten the chance to go excavating yet. Not that he needs to know that. “You set up this meeting. What is it you want?”

The look of incredulousness on his face turns to one of sheer calculation. “I want to know why you’re here. We were supposed to be married.”

Is he still going on about that? I broke off the engagement months ago. “You’re not in love with me, Barnabus. We both know this. So tell me what you want by dragging me here, because it’s obvious you want something.”

“I want Honori Hold.” His voice is soft. “It was in my grasp and you took it from me.”

“It’s not yours—”

“I’m a second son,” he continues. A mug with an onion decorating it is shoved in front of him by the barmaid and he draws back with a look of disgust. He nudges it away from him and turns back to me. “My brother is ridiculously healthy and his wife is pregnant. There’s no chance I’ll inherit my family’s hold. So I want yours.”

“You can’t have mine.” Not that I want it much at the moment, but I’ll be damned by all the gods if I just hand it over to this arse. “How did you even know I was here?”

“I didn’t.” He leans back and studies me. “It’s coincidence, really. But I saw your maid by the stream the other day. You two were as thick as thieves back at Honori, so I had my men ask around. Everyone in the guild is quite eager to tell me all about the women who have fledged to Guild Master Magpie and her Taurian brute.”

I purse my lips, irritated.

“You didn’t even go by a false name, Aspeth darling. It’s as if you were begging to be caught.”

“I had one. They wouldn’t let me use it,” I mutter.

He reaches for my hand on the bar. “We can ignore all of this. Come home with me.”

Just as he touches me, I snatch my hand away. “I’m not going anywhere with you, and we’re not marrying. You’re not getting Honori Hold.”

Barnabus ignores me. “I won’t even tell anyone that I found you here. We’ll simply say you were overcome with passion for me and we eloped. No one has to know the truth. Your family will be ruined if anyone finds out that you’re here, pretending to be a guild stooge.”

I bristle at that. He makes it seem as if I’m an idiot. That I have noidea what I’ve gotten myself into. I know—and have always known—that traveling without a chaperone isn’t done for a holder’s daughter. I know that coming to a rough city like Vastwarren makes it ten times worse, because the reputation of this place is less than savory. The guild is considered a necessary evil by most holders—required, but disliked.

I know all this.

I just don’tcare.

Being a pristine, virginal holder’s daughter with an impeccable reputation got me nowhere for the past thirty years. I haven’t married. My father’s hold is broke. Our artifacts are gone. We’re in danger of losing our lives if the truth comes out, and frankly I’m tired of all of it. I’m here in this rough, despicable city, preparing to do the dreadedmanual laborof a guild member, because I’m out of better choices.

I’m finally doing what I want. What I need to do.

And Barnabus is here, sticking his nose in and trying to ruin things. My anger rises, and I grab the onion from his mug and crunch down on it, not caring that I spray bits of white onion flesh everywhere. I hope he finds me disgusting. “I’m not going to marry you.”

“Wrong.” He leans back, his expression downright smug, as if he has me trapped. “You marry me, and I’ll keep your little secret about all of this. Otherwise, your reputation is destroyed.”

“I’m not going to marry you,” I say again calmly. He doesn’t need to know that I can’t. That I’m already married to someone else. Seeing him here has just cemented the fact that I would rather walk across broken glass than marry this jerk. To think that I once enjoyed his kisses. I try to imagine this selfish, self-absorbed boor tonguing me the way Hawk did and the onions in my stomach churn. “Don’t make me say it again.”

“Well, then, enjoy hunting artifacts for me,” Barnabus says, voice light. “I’ve paid a lot of money to the guild to get everyone possible down there scouting for artifacts, and they’ll all come to my hands. They know I’m planning to go to war. To take down another hold. And do you think they care? No. All they care about is getting a commission, so I made sure it’s an enormous one.” He smiles, all teeth, and leans back confidently. “You’re of course welcome to commission teams on your father’s behalf. It can be a race between us.”

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