Page 154 of Sword & Shadow
Once Deckard had placed an adequate distance between himself and Rafferty, he summoned Hewitt.
The ghost materialized, grizzled and glowering as ever. “What took you so long?” he demanded.
Deckard opened his mouth, but he couldn’t bring himself to speak. So much had happened in the six days since he’d last spoken with Hewitt. How did he explain it all? He didn’t want to relive it.
“I messed up,” Deckard admitted at last.
Hewitt’s steely gaze narrowed.
A brutal sigh worked out of Deckard’s lungs. “It’s over. Evylin’s asked for an annulment.”
Still, Hewitt stared at him, unresponsive.
Deckard shifted uncomfortably. “I’m sorry, I—”
“She asked for an annulment,” Hewitt said, each word slow and measured. He held up a hand, furrowed his brow, and cocked his head. “Sheaskedfor an annulment?”
Deckard nodded.
“Tell me you weren’t stupid enough to give her one.”
“Well...” Deckard hesitated. He’d expected Hewitt to be angry, to rail and yell and call Deckard a fool. He hadn’t expected this flat, contained inquiry. “No, technically not yet. We’re still in Wauld, but—”
Hewitt cut him off. “Good. Keep it that way.”
“What?”
“I don’t give a damn what she asked for,” Hewitt said fiercely, the anger Deckard anticipated creeping into his tone. “Don’t give it to her.”
Deckard pinched the bridge of his nose. This discussion was never going to be easy, but he didn’t want to try convincing Hewitt of his reasons.
“I already promised her that I would,” Deckard said. “I can’t go back on my word.”
Hewitt scoffed. “You promised to prize and serve her, to stand by her side through all that life may send,” he said, quoting the marriage ceremony of Ephria. “A never-ending promise. Will you go back onthatword of yours?”
“That’s not what this is,” Deckard argued. “She’saskingme to annul the marriage. Once it’s complete, those vows are void, as though we never said them in the first place, because we never sealed them. That promise was never fully assured.”
“Because you were too scared to assure it,” Hewitt said accusingly.
Deckard dipped his head, aggrieved by the man’s derisive tone. “Is it wrong that I desired love between us first?” he asked.
“No,” Hewitt said, the deep rumble of his voice surprisingly soothing. “It was wrong of you to assume that shedidn’tlove you.”
An ache filled Deckard with the deepest longing for Hewitt’s words to be right. He wished with the most fervent desire that Evylin had come to love him. If she did, he thought he could topple the Waulden and Ephrian monarchies himself if it would make her happy.
“You can’t make me happy.”
A body-shaking sigh slipped out of him. “I told her that I love her,” he whispered.
Hewitt curled his hands into fists but didn’t speak.
“I know you told me not to,” Deckard said. “But she’d already made her decision, and I...”
“You thought it might change her mind,” Hewitt concluded when he fell silent.
Deckard nodded.
“And it didn’t.” It wasn’t a question. Hewitt knew his niece well enough to know that Deckard’s love would only drive her farther away.
