I couldn’t read his tone.‘Do you need permission?’
‘I was being polite,’ Raleigh said coolly.‘Your father invited me in years ago.’
I let out a shaking breath, trying not to think about what that meant, and stepped aside to give him room.‘Fine.Come in.’
His eyes narrowed in that dark calculating way they did when he seemed to be assessing me, as though he hadn’t expected me to give in so easily.He climbed above the window, then swung feet first into the room, looking irritatingly graceful all the while.I gave him a moment of privacy while he straightened his clothes, turning my attention to the window instead.
‘How did you get through the shutters?’They were still intact, creaking in the wind, but the barricade was gone.
Raleigh sat on my old bed, reclining like he had every right to be there, which was a strangely uncomfortable sight.‘I removed the nails,’ he said, as if it should be obvious.This unnerved me more than if he had torn through the wood.How much strength did he need to pull a nail from the wall with his bare hands?‘You need more than a locked window to keep me away.I can’t say I’m not hurt that you ran from me the moment my back was turned.’
‘That’s not … You don’t understand.’
Raleigh raised his brows.His face was a mask of cool indifference, but I knew him better now and recognised the tension in his shoulders.‘We’re here, aren’t we?’
‘I meant to come back.’
‘Yes, you told Moira the same thing.Yet here you are, asleep in your father’s house, with the shutters nailed shut to keep me out.’
‘Don’t blame Moira.It’s my fault.’
‘I know,’ he said, ‘I trust Moira completely.I wouldn’t trust you to hold my horse.’
I tried not to let the comment fester.‘I tried to return as promised, but …’ The words escaped me.Actually voicing what Father had done felt wrong; it was a low I’d thought only the worst of men could stoop to.Men like Raleigh.If I told him, it would feel real.
My arms throbbed, the bruises already forming from the force of being dragged upstairs.This was real, whether I told him or not.‘Father locked me in here,’ I said.‘The windows were nailed down to keep me in, not to keep you out.You can try the door if you don’t believe me.’
Raleigh’s lips curled in cold amusement.
‘I’m telling the truth.’
‘No, I know.’His voice dripped with sardonic disdain.‘This is exactly the sort of thing Juri would do.’
‘You don’t know my father,’ I said out of reflex.
Raleigh tilted his head.‘Apparently I know him better than you do.’
I resented that he would suggest such a thing, but the evidence still lay open on the nightstand, the words seared into my memory.Raleigh had known right away who was intercepting my letters, when it had never once occurred to me to suspect Father.I wondered what else he knew, what else he had seen that had twisted Fatherso grotesquely from the man I knew.Our engagement was a punishment, after all.There were worse crimes than mail tampering.
‘Maybe you’re right,’ I said eventually.
Raleigh jerked as if burnt, then stared at me as though seeing me for the first time.‘What?’
I handed him the letter he’d written.It was so dark I could barely tell there was writing on the page, but Raleigh read over it without pause.His night vision must have been better than that of humans.None of the books I’d read had mentioned such a thing, but it made sense for a nocturnal creature.
‘I’m sorry I accused you of stealing my letters,’ I said without meeting his eye.‘You were right.It was Father all along.’
Raleigh kept his face bowed, pretending to keep reading the letter, though it was only a few lines long.Something in the room seemed to shift.I no longer felt like I was on the edge of a precipice with Father rushing towards me and Raleigh waiting at the bottom.I could feel the warmth of the fire.
When Raleigh finally looked up again, he was grinning.‘Are youreallyClara?’
My cheeks turned hot.‘You don’t need to gloat about it.’
‘It’s the first time you’ve been nice to me,’ he said lightly.‘I’m enjoying it.’
‘Well, I’m glad one of us gets to enjoy the revelation that my father is a horrible person.’
Raleigh’s expression darkened.‘Believe me, I take no enjoyment in your father’s actions,’ he said.‘Did he panic when you found the letters?Is that why he locked you in here?’
