I couldn’t suppress the grin on my face because I didn’t believe that for a second. Melanie was the best cut of meat, but I’d beat him to the punch. He was stuck with the cut no one else wanted.

“Raven would like to see her.”

“Yeah, bet she would.” I set down my glass and released a long, drawn-out breath. I didn’t want to see Raven in any capacity, but after what my brother just had to go through, I wanted to honor any request he made. “Fine.”

He couldn’t hide the look of surprise on his face. It quickly turned into a look of gratitude.

Silence lingered. I nursed the scotch with my lips, my eyes on the unlit fireplace. When Melanie woke up and realized I’d gone, she would probably be angry with me. After I returned home, she would probably ignore me the way I ignored her. I hated that cold shoulder. I hated that anger in her eyes. But if she didn’t want me to leave, she shouldn’t have demanded something I’d never offered. I never pretended to be anything less than what I was. My honesty was prevalent in every word, every look, every touch.

“I have another request.”

My thoughts were so deep that I’d forgotten he was there. My eyes shifted back to him.

“I’d like to buy Raven’s freedom.”

The glass was held to my lips, but I didn’t take a drink. My hand shook slightly before it lowered back to my knee. The look I gave him must have been sharp because his eyes turned guarded in preparation for my wrath. “No.”

“I will pay you whatever you want—”

“There’s not enough money in the world, Magnus.” I set the glass back on the coffee table.

He should just let it go, but he didn’t. “She’ll still be a prisoner. But she’ll be my prisoner—”

“Not good enough.”

“Melanie would appreciate it—”

“And she’s asked many times. My answer has never changed.” The only reason I didn’t scream at him was because of the scene I’d just witnessed. He wanted to remove her from the camp because she was clearly unsafe here. When I vacated the premises, the guards might creep in once more. “It won’t change for you either. She had her opportunity to be free, but she chose to spend that freedom burning down my camp, the place I built with my bare hands alongside you. She chose to destroy the thing I care most about. So, no, she will never get the offer again. I granted her mercy once—and she chose to piss it away.”

Magnus asked to leave the camp early.

He wanted to give Raven a change of scenery after what she’d suffered.

I allowed it because I didn’t want to look at her anyway.