“Because of the two of us, I’m not the one carrying secrets around or trying to hide them. Like searching for gold while pretending to be on a botany expedition. Or having an Athabaskan wife and son.”
At the mention of Sadzi and Deniki, the gun wavered. Just for a moment, but it was all Heath needed to lean in and yank it from Richard’s hand.
“I can’t believe you pulled a gun on our guide.” Heath uncocked the gun, then shoved it into his coat. “Would you have really killed a man, all because he can’t tell you where a giant deposit of gold is?”
“I have to say, Richard, I’ll be reporting this event, too, after we return to Washington, DC,” Dr. Wetherby blustered. “You can’t go around pulling a gun on people you want information from.”
Richard didn’t look the least bit ruffled by the threat. “Blame me all you want, but I still think Amos here is hiding something, and we’d all be richer if he told us what it was. Just think about it. He’s wandered around Alaska for years, guiding expeditions and learning the secrets of the land. Don’t tell me he’s discovered nothing of significance, nothing that can’t be developed or processed and sold to the masses. Maybe he hasn’t discovered gold yet, but he’s probably found silver. Wouldn’t you all like to own a share in a silver mine? You could, provided you get him to tell us where the silver is.”
Mikhail’s jaw tensed. “I don’t know where any silver is either, now stop trying to distract everyone from the fact you have an Athabaskan family.”
“Yes.” Ice crusted Bryony’s voice. “I want to know more about that. Because from my perspective, it looks like you proposed to me while you have another wife.”
Richard scoffed. “I did no such thing.”
The words caused every muscle in Mikhail’s body to coil. “Really, that’s odd considering I was there when the tribe in Tanana performed your wedding ceremony.”
“It was a sham marriage. It never counted for anything. There was no church, and certainly not a marriage license.”
“So that’s how you justified walking away from Sadzi and your unborn child a year later?” Mikhail’s hands tightened into fists. “You think that if the marriage wasn’t performed in a church or you don’t have a piece of paper from the government saying it’s a marriage, it doesn’t count?”
Richard’s jaw tightened. “I don’t make the laws. I’m just following them.”
“The Athabaskans have been marrying people without licenses from the government for centuries. So have the Tlingit and Aleut and Inupiat.” Mikhail dropped his voice to a growl. “That marriage counted to Sadzi. It counted to her tribe. It counted to your son.”
Richard’s eyes flashed. “Alaska belongs to the United States. The government gets to determine who’s married and who isn’t, not an antiquated custom.”
“You acted as though you were married.” A sickening ball formed in his stomach. “You lived with Sadzi as though you intended to spend the rest of your life with her. You fathered her son.”
“When I left for Alaska, I went intending to learn everything I could about it. If that meant spending two years living in the most remote place in the world with a tribe of people who’ve never even seen the ocean, then so be it.”
How could this man be so callous? How could he so easily discount two full years of his life? Unless... “Did you marry her simply because you knew the tribe would accept you and make you one of their own? And tell you their secrets?” Had he been looking for gold even then, and hoping that if he married into the tribe, they would tell him where it was?
Richard offered a stiff shrug. “I don’t understand why any of this is your concern.”
“It’smyconcern.” Bryony crossed her arms over her chest, her hair cascading about her shoulders in wild, tangled waves. “You proposed to me knowing you were already married.”
“I’m not married!” Richard threw up his hands. “What I did in Tanana over a decade ago has nothing to do with you.”
“But you lived with this woman like you were married.” Bryony swept toward him, her eyes flashing little sparks of hazel-colored fire.
Richard dragged a hand through his hair, his lips parting as if to respond, but no words came.
“Is it true about you having a son?” She shoved her finger into Richard’s chest. “Even if you can claim you weren’t actually married to this woman—Sudi, is it?”
“Sadzi,” Mikhail found himself saying. “It means ‘bright sun.’”
Bryony glanced at him for a moment, then whipped her head back around to face Richard. “Even if you can claim you weren’t actually married to Sadzi, you still had a son with her. What have you done to support them in the years you’ve been gone?”
A muscle pulsed on the side of Richard’s jaw, but he kept his lips clamped shut.
“Do you mean to tell me you take better care of that former mistress and the daughter you had with her than you do of the son you had with a woman you actually married? I knew you were ambitious. I knew you could be callous. But I never would have thought...” Tears filled her eyes, and she turned away. “Excuse me. It’s time I retire for the evening.”
Mikhail sighed as he watched her go. He couldn’t pretend to know all the things she was feeling as a woman right then. But if a man who’d already had a wife and child had ever tried proposing to one of his sisters...
His hands clenched into fists again, and he had to force himself to release them.
At least Bryony knew the truth now. Everyone did. And since they weren’t carrying any more secrets—and Richard no longer had his pistol—hopefully they could make faster time getting back to Sitka.
