My body feels cold. Cold, and then hot, waves crashing over me, my heart tightening like a fist. “We couldn’t have gotten it that wrong.”
Kit glares at me. “We didn’t even stop to think about it before we went for her. We walked into that fucking throne room, and she thought we were there tohelp. Did you know that?”
We both stare at him.
Silas sounds hoarse. “What?”
Kit crosses his arms. “She thought we were there to speak up for her, as a character witness. Nobody else had.She had nobody else. But when we turned up, we just kicked her down again.”
My stomach twists, flipping over itself. “We didn’t know. We still don’t know. Not for certain.”
“I know,” Kit roars the words, his face angrier than I have ever seen it. “I know. And if you can’t pull your fucking heads out of your asses long enough to realize how much we havefucked this up, then I don’t know what else there is to say.”
She had nobody else.
And if Kit is right, if Silas is telling the truth about what happened that night and she didn’t want to leave…fuck.
Silas is silent. Both Kit and I look to him. As we have always done. But our oldest brother is not infallible. And he looks so tired, so uncertain.
And I remember how he looked, that night. With his arms wrapped around our father’s body, not letting go until Kit coaxed him to stand up. And then he took a breath, and he focused on us. He woke up the next morning and dragged us both tobreakfast, refusing to let us sink into the pit of grief that hovered over us all. He found Ellen, bringing her in to keep the house going, to keep it ahome.
He keptusgoing, pushing down his own grief to give ours the space to air.
So I don’t ask him. Instead, I think it over in my head. “Let’s invite them to dinner.”
Both of them look at me as though I’ve lost my mind, and I clarify.
“Ella Cooper. Crispin. Have them over for dinner. I want to see how she acts around Stasi.”
I can see them both considering it, but the more I think of it, the more I become set. I want to see Ella Cooper close up, see if I can get through that sweet exterior, flip it over to see what’s crawling beneath.
And if Kit is right, if Silas is right… then I’m going to take her down.
Finally, they both nod.
“She may not want to come,” Silas points out, but Kit shakes his head. His eyes meet mine, gleaming, and I know we’re on the same page again.
“She’ll come.”
I clear my throat. “I’ll make the arrangements when I’m in the city later.”
Silas frowns. “You’re going again? Is something wrong?”
I half-shrug. “Some of the men are causing issues. Laz Mayhew is mouthing off about how we’re losing our grip. It’s having a ripple effect, nothing I can’t handle. But… I don’t like the man. I’ve heard things.”
Silas sits up at that. “Have him come here instead. It’ll piss him off to travel so far from the city, put him on edge, and we can make a decision from there.”
I consider it. I don’t particularly want him here, in our home, but he has a point. It really will piss him off, and I’m not in the mood to pander to the man. “You want to join?”
“I could use a distraction,” Silas says. “If you don’t mind, that is.”
I blink, as he defers to me. “It’s your business.”
“But they’re your men,” he says pointedly. “And you work well with them. I won’t overstep.”
I can feel myself straighten at the approval in his tone. “I’d welcome it.”
“Good.” And when he offers me a smile, I wonder. Silas raises an eyebrow when he sees me staring, and I cough out a laugh at the silent question. “You just… you seem different.”
