“I didn’t mean...” Verm squirmed.
“I know what you meant. Apologize to my daughters. Now,” John ordered.
Verm swallowed. His Adam’s apple bobbed in his skinny throat. He twisted to peer at the door where his thug with the beefy arms still stood. It seemed to give him confidence, and he lifted his chin. “I’m here for the payment of the job you stole from me.”
John squinted his eyes and rested his hands on the table to lean toward Verm.
Verm jumped slightly.
Raven could have sworn he actually trembled.
“Are we talking about the tax collector in Burke? The coin you tried to steal?” John asked.
“The job was mine, and you talked Lord Beaumont into hiring you,” Verm complained.
“It didn’t take much,” Raven whispered to Willow, but loud enough for Verm to hear and cast a scathing glare at her.
“If you have a problem with Lord Beaumont’s decision, speak with him,” John commanded. He straightened and placed his hands on his hips. “As far as I’m concerned, the matter is closed.”
Verm’s eyes swept all of them in assessment. “For now,” he agreed.
“For good.”
Verm snarled.
John grabbed him by the tunic.
The room became silent as all eyes focused on them.
“You didn’t apologize to my girls,” John said through clenched teeth.
Raven noticed a small bag in her father’s hand. Then she saw movement near the door as Verm’s beefy-armed thug took a step forward. She dropped her hand to the pommel of her sword.
A sneer was etched in Verm’s lips as he stared in hatred at John. He glanced at the double-chinned man near the hearth, then at the Hawke sisters. “Sorry,” he ground out.
“Next time, you will be more respectful to my daughters,” John proclaimed and released him.
Verm backed quickly. His upper lip curled, his nose twitching. He stopped and spoke to the beefy-armed thug by the door, and then his other man joined them. Together, they looked at the Hawkes and turned, leaving the inn.
As the door closed, the main room came back to life with quiet talking and the clink of mugs on tabletops.
John cast a cloaked man across the room a glance and nodded once. It happened so quickly that Raven wasn’t sure he had done it. He stood and moved toward the door.
Her father sat in the chair between her and Sage. Willow took the seat opposite him.
Raven looked down at the pouch in his hand. “What’s the job?”
“I can handle this one alone. You girls wait for me at Sybil’s farm,” he said.
Raven regarded the pouch. “Yes, Father.”
“What’s in the pouch?” Sage asked.
Her father’s fist tightened around the fabric. “Nothing for you to concern yourself with.”
Sage narrowed her eyes slightly.
Raven recognized that expression. Defiance, suspicion.
