His mother’s fingers went white around her spoon.
Odessa’s cat-like gaze flicked to him. She smirked. Cal was vaguely impressed by her restraint: he had been expecting a crude gesture at the very least.
“Yes,” his father said slowly. “Among other things.”
“He liked to fuck.” Cal found himself breaking the silence again, mostly to dispel the tension that was spreading through the room like a thick, miasmic fog. “That’s what my father is hinting at so coyly, Nadine. Caledon Cullraven liked chasing women almost as much as he enjoyed chasing deer. And if rumors are to be believed, he didn’t particularly care if they were willing.”
There was another silence, longer this time, and if the other had been crafted of ice and fog, this was a violent storm waiting to release a torrent of electric fire. Ben was glaring at him and his father had drawn himself up in affront. “My youngest is very passionate.” A smile parted his mouth; it was like watching a faultline open up. “I suppose it’s the lawyer in him. He likes to know where the line is, so he can cross it freely.”
“Including the repetition of colorful local slander,” Ben cut in.
“Whereas Ben,” Cal retorted, “enjoys testing the limits gradually, so he can know where all the load-bearing walls are before he makes everything come crashing down. That’s why men like him become architects. It feeds into their fantasies of destruction.”
Odessa laughed out loud, delighted. “This is fun. Now do me.”
“You,” Cal said, turning obligingly, “don’t have a line at all.”
She sulked, grabbing the wine and filling up her glass to the very top, until it threatened to spill over to the polished table. His mother’s eye twitched and it seemed as if she might speak, but she just bent her head to her soup, still barely touched, and took a quiet sip.
Clearly feeling as if the focus of the room had ventured too far from himself, his father decided to speak. “Pleasure does nothave to be reciprocal or fair. Nobody asked the deer if it desires to have its throat cut, but that does not taint the thrill for the hunter.”
“You’re scaring our guest,” Ben said, with a nod at Nadine.
“Well, we can’t have that.” He smiled insincerely, carving into the slice of meat on his plate. “I do hope you’ll forgive us our faults.”
“What are you doing to find my sister?” she said, in lieu of a response. “I spoke to the sheriff and he said you helped him put out a statement. Why wasn’t I or my aunt notified.”
His smile flickered. “I assure you, my deer, we’re doing all that we can. It’s not exactly convenient for us to reach out, though. Our connections to the outside world are tenuous at best. I’m sure Cal told you how old-fashioned we can be.”
Cal saw her visibly bristle at the wordconvenient. “Well, I’m here now.”
“So you are.” The expression on his face took on a decidedly unpleasant cast. “I hope you’re staying for the Running of the Deer festival. This unpleasant business has cast a pall over the town but people come from all over the globe to participate in our little wild hunt. Since you’re so inexperienced, either of my boys would be glad to take you.”
“Yes, Nadine,” Cal said, pitching his voice low. “I’d be sure to take very good care of you.”
Ben looked ready to explode. Given his propensity for slip-ups and theatrics, the outcome was hardly beneath him. The only downside was that it wasn’thimwho would be paying for his mistakes. It was Nadine.
Nadine, who was looking at him like she’d never seen him before. Cal imagined he saw a dawning awareness in the depthsof those pretty pale eyes that she was not quite as safe as she imagined: it was the look of an animal being taken to the axe.
“I just updated the website,” his sister chimed in. “You should take a look.”
“Like I said,” Nadine said faintly. “I’m not much for guns.”
“Of course, there’s food and wine and other forms of entertainment also,” his father said, though he was now studying Nadine in a way Cal didn’t appreciate. “I find it really brings people closer to their roots. Any man can become king for a day when he has all of god’s creatures under his dominion.”
“My father would like to have the whole world kneeling at his feet,” Cal said as an aside.
“Cal knows a lot about kneeling,” Ben butted in. “He’s made this entire town his willing congregation.”
Nadine flinched. She wasn’t looking at him but Cal didn’t need to see the hurt to know it was there.
“You sound bitter, Ben,” he said coldly. “But I don’t see you out there with a flashlight, looking for your wife.”
Ben breathed out angrily. “I could say the same of her sister.”
Nadine blinked back tears. Cal could swear her fucking lip trembled.
“She came here, didn’t she?” he heard himself say, the words firm and commanding. It even gave his father pause, and for the first time since he had brought up tradition, his mother lifted her head and looked at him directly. She had not looked at him like that since he had been a child, and Cal did not know what to make of her clear-eyed appraisal now, or why it made his chest tight.
