He Left My Rejection on His Desk, So I Signed It Myself novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: The Well

On the fifth morning Oswin rode into the Fen with ten wolves and a smile.

I was at the well with a bucket.

He swung down from his grey horse and came straight to me with both hands out, as he had every time I'd come home from anywhere in ten years.

"Tilda. Thank the Moon. We've all been sick with worry."

He kissed my cheek, and his beard was soft and smelled of cedar.

I let him.

I told myself that was only manners.

Corwin came around the corner of the burned barn with a coil of rope over his shoulder.

He had repaired the ferry line, stacked what hay was left, and taken a pup's tooth marks in his left boot without complaint.

The Fen wolves had stopped glaring at him two days ago, which I found insulting.

"Corwin," Oswin said, and his whole face lit. "Thank the Moon, you're alive. The pack's asking for you. Maud has had to settle a quarrel over the lower pasture and she's worn to the bone."

"Is that so," Corwin said.

"We've come to collect the Fen's toll, as well, since I was passing. A silver mark for each ferry crossing since the new moon."

Corwin put down the rope.

"The toll is withdrawn," he said.

Oswin laughed, because he thought it was a joke.

Then he saw Corwin's face.

"It's Council tariff, Alpha. The Fen's been riding on our road for years and paying nothing. You signed the order yourself three weeks ago."

"I never signed a toll on the Fen."

"You sign everything I put in front of you," Oswin said fondly. "That's what I'm for."

The yard went quiet.

Corwin looked at his Beta for a long moment.

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