You said when I grew larger, you'd take me as your bride. ...it was a child's game, but I am still a child. Please...let me stay by your side. Don't make me suffer in loneliness anymore.
He'd cast her aside shortly after, and she'd run away in tears. He'd done it to protect her, the man he'd become wasn't the boy who made that silly promise. It was better this way.
But when he remembered those days of her clinging to his side, the way her smiles and laughter made him smile, wiping away her tears as he promised they'd meet again someday, he questioned whether it was truly the right choice.
She was of House Carleon now, Cornwell was dead and buried. But in spite of everything they were bound by blood, and that would never change no matter how much he tried to distance himself from her.
"Lord Brother..."
Her tearstained face and folded hands made her look less the woman she was and more the little girl he'd left behind.
"Priscilla." He sighed. "You must understand, I don't feel about you the way you do about me. I can't keep that promise."
"I...I know, Raymond. I never truly expected it of you," she said sadly.
"But it wasn't fair of me to push you away like that," he continued. "I know I don't act like it, but I have missed you. And I do love you, sister."
"...you mean that, Raymond?"
"Yes." He cupped her chin in his hand. "I'll never leave you behind again, Priscilla. And that's a promise I'll do my best to keep."
She threw herself into his arms, crying with joy.