My contract. Perhaps I can walk away from this situation with more than just money.
“I want to be released from my contract. Andra too. Permanently.” Just because I might want to assist Harold doesn’t mean I won’t wring every advantage I can from the situation. I still can’timagine leaving the club, but if the time comes when we need to, I don’t want there to be anything standing in our way. Something tells me by the time this whole thing is over with, I might need to make a clean break, and though the mere thought rips away a chunk of my heart, for my sister’s sake, I need to be prepared for the worst. “If you do that, I’ll make Callum Reid fall in love with me and help you with whatever you need.”
Lady M pretends to think about it for a minute before offering me a single word. “Done.”
I know what I have to do, have Seen it as clearly as any vision I’ve ever experienced before, and yet I am dreading delivering them the news. Their Bond is so strong, forged over so many years, and from such a young age, that it will be physically painful to separate them. But I must.
Harry will stay here at the club. He is doing well in his new management position. Everyone here loves him, and he is finally coming into his own.
Grecia has never quite fit in. I do not think she will be sad to leave the club, only Harry. I will send her to my family’s estate in Scota. She will be safe there. And more importantly, the others will be safe from her.
—excerpt from the journal of Diana Brahan
8
Callum
“Have you thoughtany more about your father’s proposition?” Alex dismounts his horse in front of the stables, handing the reins off to one of the waiting stablehands.
I had been about to dismount myself, but now I reconsider. Perhaps I should dig my heels in, giving my horse the signal to hightail it away from here. I would love nothing more than to escape this conversation. But I sigh, jumping from the horse and passing off the reins. “You know I have thought of little else.”
It’s not entirely true. My thoughts over the past day have swung back and forth between the need for me to murder my own father, and the gorgeous face of the woman I am supposed to trust to help me.
I’m not sure which line of thinking has been more disturbing.
“Is there a reason you do not want to become the Scotan candidate?” Alex removes his riding gloves, shoving them in his pocket before turning to walk back to the estate.
“Aside from the fact that in order to do so I need to kill my father?”
“Aside from that, yes.”
I glance at my uncle, but he does not mean the words in jest. Alex has always been insightful. He comforted me when my mother died and gave me advice before the first time I bedded a woman; he has seen me through every phase of life.
“Something is keeping you from accepting this responsibility, Cal.” He comes to a stop under a large tree, the canopy of leaves shading us from the midday sun as it peeks through Scota’s ever-present clouds, as well as any prying eyes that might be sweeping the grounds of the estate. “And I don’t think it has as much to do with killing James as you might want us to believe.”
It might have something to do with the person I would need to trust once the act was done.
It also might have something to do with the insecurity I feel deep in my bones, an insecurity I couldn’t acknowledge to anyone else other than Alex.
“It is one thing to think about ruling Scota. I was born for it, bred for it, have been preparing for it my whole life.”
Alex nods, letting me know he is listening, but he does not interrupt.
“But it is another thing entirely to think about presiding over all of Avon. Not only that, but to be the first one tasked with bringing the four provinces together. It is a job I am not sure I am equipped to handle.” A weight lifts off my shoulders, the act of admitting this fear already alleviating it.
“You would make a good leader, Cal.” Alex slings an arm around my shoulders. “You have the experience and you’re one of the most even-keeled people I know. This country is going to need someone kind, someone levelheaded, someone intelligent. You have all of those qualities in spades.”
I scoff, turning away from him so his hand is forced to drop from my shoulder. Something about the physical touch chafes instead of comforts. “I am not sure that I do.”
“Is this about the Gifted?” he asks after a quiet moment.
My shoulders stiffen. My opinion on the Gifted and my thoughts on them regaining their rights under the new regime haven’t shifted so greatly since I saw Lady Caterine perform. But the thought has crossed my mind: Maybe I have judged the situation harshly.
Though maybe that is Lady Caterine using her Gift. She brushed up against me when she approached me at the bar. Perhaps she knows exactly who I am, what I intend to do, and is attempting to use her Gift to stop me.
“You know, your mother was a fierce advocate for the Gifted.” Alex takes a step forward, forcing me to look at him.
“And look where it got her.”
