His hand slid down her arm, found her hand, even as he straightened again. “I don’t know what she heard. But the Mabena Moon I know couldn’t be embarrassed by the likes of me, even if I had tried that—which was never my intent. The Mabena Moon I know could turn mockery on its heel with one well-placed sentence. You’d not have feared that. No.”

He edged closer, making her keenly aware of the fact that he was nearly a foot taller than she was. And it was just his usual bullying tactics, to tower over her now.

Well, he had one thing right. Mabena Moon wasn’t one to cower before a bully. She tilted her head back and stared him down. “I didn’t fear anything.”

“No?” He had the same grin as his brother, nearly—but Cador had never worn it like Casek did. Mocking. Challenging. Not until the last.

No, even then it wasn’t the same. At the last, Cador’s smile had been cruel, pure and simple.

Casek shook his head. “Cador was the safe choice.”

“Safe?” She spat the word. “Ha.” If he’d been safe, he wouldn’t have walked away as he’d done, grinding her heart into the sand with sadistic pleasure.

“Cad was the one who’d always got along with your family, the one who always tried to be everyone’s friend. The one you didn’t have to explain to anyone. But he was only those things for his own purposes.” His fingers tightened around hers. “Didn’t I try to tell you that? He’d always been selfish. Out only for his own interests—it just happened that those interests were you. Because he knew it would dig at me.”

“This is absurd.” She tried to tug her hand free so she could spin again and march away. Oliver could wait until tomorrow to get the message he didn’t even know was coming. What difference would a few hours really make? She’d take it over to him herself in the morning.

For a moment, Casek held tight to her fingers. Then he released them abruptly, even stepped back, gave her room. “You said it was him you wanted—so I let you go. He broke your heart—so I let you go. But you’re back now, and he’s gone, and blast it, Mabena, but I’m not letting you go a third time. You’re going to give me a chance.”

Of all the . . . She whirled first one way, then back the other, waving her arms to force words into her brain. “You think you can just proclaim that? Has it never once occurred to you that I don’t want any Wearne, ever again?”

“Nope. Never occurred to me. It’s going to be different this time. You’ll see.”