Who gains from this marriage? I’ll find one answer today.
Nora sits on the bed, pulling her hair into a tight braid.
She wasn’t born into power, yet she hears every word whispered by those who were.
“Do you know anything about Rory Brennan’s family?”
She pauses and regards me in the mirror. “Not much,” she says, voice careful. “Old Irish money. Not O’Brien high, but old enough to matter.”
“And?” I press.
She hesitates. “Rory’s father was a smuggler turned politician. The kind who buries bodies with paperwork. His sons aren’t much different.”
“Sons?” I’ve never seen anyone else with him. He always arrives alone.
“Four,” she says. “Now one.”
The room seems to shrink. “What happened to the others?”
“Two dead in accidents. One disappeared. Rory’s the last man standing.”
A slow twist pulls at my gut. “So, he's the heir by default.”
“Not default.” Her voice drops to a whisper. “Design.”
The word hangs between us, heavier than truth. in case someone is in the room with us and they don’t want anyone to hear. “By design?”
“Word is, Rory made sure he’s the last one standing.”
The blood drains from my face.
“He wouldn’t?—”
“He would,” Nora says. “He’s the kind who smiles at funerals. The kind who poisons the tea and never sips it himself.”
Of course, Liam would like him, he likes anything that keeps him on top. Asshole. And this is the man they chose for me.
My pulse pounds in my ears.
Why did his brothers die? Why this marriage?
And how much of my blood will it cost?.
I wait until Nora leaves for some student meeting, before slipping down into the archives.
The room smells of dust and ink. Shelves rise like tombstones filled with the sins of every family that’s ever walked these halls.
Somewhere in here is the truth.
I walk until I get to the letter B. I know there won’t be everything in here, but maybe there is something about him, and not the family.
And there it is. The Brennan family.
Old newspaper articles.
Two dead brothers. Car crash. No suspects. No survivors.
The words are cold, clinical. But I can feel the blood beneath them.
