Like Ren, who was Bach’s best friend. He’d mouthed at me toleave,but I couldn’t just turn tail and run. Not when Edgar would happily chase me down like a wayward child. Not when it would send Hayle into a fury.
It was definitely better if we got this over and done with. Let them realize I wasn’t the Avalon they once knew. I was the chosen of the fucking Goddess. I was the Soul Tie of a powerful Heir, and the lover of two more. I wasn’t some abused child anymore.
I held my head high as we walked up the packed dirt road toward the manor. Back when I was a child, I’d thought this was the largest building in all of Ebrus. That I could get lost in its halls, and no one would be able to find me.
But now that I’d seen more of Ebrus, I saw this for what it really was: a ramshackle building that had probably once been grand, but had been left to rot by my father. There were no guards on the steps. The only guards the Ninth Line employed were currently surrounding me.
Bach met us in the hallway. “I’ll take her from here, Edgar. You’re dismissed.”
“Heir—” Edgar tried to protest, but my brother stood taller.
“I said. You. Are.Dismissed.”
I’d never seen Bach like this. My jovial brother was gone, and in his place was a man with authority. Edgar gritted his teeth as he left, the rest of the soldiers going with him. A look passed between Ren and Bach, but soon enough, the doors closed with a heavy crack.
Bach turned to me and hugged me tight. “It’s good to see you, Avie.”
I huffed. “Kian said Father was away?”
Bach’s nose scrunched. “He turned up about thirty minutes after Kian left. I think he was waiting for him to leave.” He shook his head. “I was hoping Ren could get to you before you made it here, but you were faster than I expected. I've got a bad feeling about this.”
That made two of us. Hayle stepped up and held my hand as we walked to my father’s office. Lierick and Iker hadn’t said anything, happy to play Hayle’s bodyguards for the moment. Bach pushed open the door, his eyes flashing as he took in the Baron, drink already in hand.
I couldn’t even remember a time when my father hadn’t had a drink in his hand, or within arm’s reach, at least.
“Avalon.” His voice was the same. Rough, and filled with disdain.
“Father.”
“What are you doing here?” It was clear that he’d thought sending me off to Boellium War College as their conscript would be a death sentence. It was obvious he’d never thought I’d return.
So I smirked at him, because he used to be my boogeyman. My big, bad wolf. And now I saw him for what he was: a frail old man with yellowing skin from years of being at the bottom of an ale glass. “Are you not happy to see me?”
He curled his lip at me, his gums gray and his teeth stained. “Don’t be stupid, Avalon. No one is happy to see a murderer.”
I flinched, and Hayle stepped forward, the low rumble in his chest promising violence.
My father gave him an annoyed look. “I’d run if I were you, Heir Taeme. She is like a death sentence to anything that loves her. Luckily, my wife was the last person who could ever love such a monster.”
Untrue. Untrue. Untrue.I repeated it over and over in my head, even though his words hurt me, as they always did.
Kian loved me. Bach loved me. Now Vox loved me, and Hayle would lay down his life for mine—that was how deeply he felt. Lierick… He definitely felt something for me.
Stiffening my spine, I glared at the old man. “It’s fortunate then, Father, that no one is left to love you either. You’re safe from my wicked clutches. I wonder who’ll stand at your funeral? Because it won’t be any of your progeny, of that I’m certain.”
Hayle stepped forward, getting into my father’s space. Roman Halhed had been a tall, broad man once upon a time, but self-pity and illness had shrunken him like a dried husk, and now Hayle loomed over him. “I love your daughter. She will be my wife, and she will never have to see your face again.”
Roman Halhed rolled his eyes. “Always so dramatic, this generation.” He waved a hand. “Get out of my sight. Why don’t you show yourfiancéto your bedroom? Let’s see how the ThirdLine Heir enjoys how the Lower Six live, before he commits to a life with a murderess.”
Hayle launched at him, but Iker and Lierick caught him quickly. Gripping his hands, I dragged Hayle from the room. “Always a pleasure, Father. Perhaps next time I visit, we can skip these tender bonding moments?”
I moved down the hall toward the stairs, resisting the urge to creep up them. Instead, I stomped, so my father had no doubt about my presence. I looked over at Bach. “That was relatively painless.”
Bach smiled as we came to the first-floor landing. “I think having the hulking Heir to the Third Line staring death at him reminded him of his place.” He laughed, more like the brother I knew. “I’m getting Cook to make your favorite for dinner. Come and eat in our wing?”
Kian and Bach had always shared the eastern wing of the manor, and it was more of a home than any of the grand rooms in this crumbling hovel.
Smiling, I hugged my brother again. “I’d love that.”
