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“If you send him back, I’ll stay.” His voice is barely audible. “I promise.”

I don’t answer immediately.

My father dismissed the servants long before his death. After my mother died, I never brought anyone back to replace them. I closed entire wings of the castle because I had no use for them. Over the years, I built a life so isolated and predictable that weeks can pass without me noticing.

Now a stranger is offering himself to me.

The idea should be ridiculous.

Instead, I’m considering it.

Something about Boone has held my attention from the moment I pulled him away from the cell and forced him to look at me. Maybe it’s his loyalty. Maybe it’s the fact that he followed a trail into the mountains without knowing where it would lead. Maybe it’s simply that abandoning his father never occurred to him.

Or perhaps it’s simpler than that.

I want him.

“Boone! I won’t let you do this.”

His father’s voice cuts through the silence, but I don’t look away from Boone.

Do I want another person inside my home?

No.

The answer should end there.

Instead, I’m thinking.

I picture Boone walking through these corridors. Sitting beside the fireplace. Moving through rooms that have belonged exclusively to me for more than a decade.

If I decide I’ve made a mistake, there are countless ways to correct it. The castle is enormous. Entire sections remain untouched. The tower itself has stood empty for years. I can leave him up here and never think about him again.

I make my decision.

“Done.”

Boone’s head jerks upward. Shock spreads across his face so quickly that it almost makes me smile.

He turns toward the cell. “Dad—”

I unlock the door. The iron mechanism clicks loudly. His father barely has time to reach for his son before my hand closes around the collar of his coat.

“Wait!” Boone’s voice echoes through the tower. “Please!”

I ignore him.

The old man fights immediately, twisting against my grip, reaching desperately toward the iron bars he’d been clutching only moments earlier.

“You don’t want my son!”

I drag him into the corridor.

“Please! Keep me instead.”

His boots scrape across the stone.

“He doesn’t belong here.”