Page 147 of Scars Beneath a Serpent’s Scales

Perhaps she didn’t understand because she didn’t have a family, but how was that fair to him?

“Roremar,” she whispered, and his sorrowful grey eyes met hers. She shifted her chair around the table so they were knee to knee and brushed a stray wave from his face. “You’ve done a phenomenal job honoring that. They’re all so happy and safe. And they love you. But are you living for yourself, too?”

“They’re my life, Em.” His voice cracked. “I’ve taken over every business venture, taught myself all the pieces and balanced budgets month over month, done things I promised I never would just to ensure they have everything they need. My mother helped, but she’s been sick most of her life and the grief only made it worse. I’d sell my damn spirit to do everything for them.”

She wasn’t about to argue with that, especially not with the hurt blooming across his features, so she redirected. “What does this have to do with Falliare?”

Roremar’s eyes flashed with steel. “He and my father didn’t always get along—Aldryn thought my father was reckless with how he cared for my mother and the rest of us. Constantly starting new ventures rather than having something stable. When he died, I didn’t want it to seem like I was replacing him by asking for help.” Roremar sighed, watching their entwined hands. “Not that Falliare was offering, anyway. He doesn’t do handouts. There’s always a catch. I tried to avoid it, but we needed the money, so I sucked up my pride.”

He drew abstract shapes around her palm with his thumb. “I’ve been at his beck and call ever since, but I’m not proud of it. That’s how he got me to commit to this case. He promised to put my siblings through school, but it’s not a relationship I boast about. I do the opposite—keep my family across the isle, keep us out of the public eye.” He huffed a laugh. “Plus, you seemed so intent on hating me when we met, I didn’t want you to know anything personal about me.”

Emmeline shook her head. “I certainly judged you before I knew you.”

“Most people do.” He traced a star on her palm, and she shivered.

“I get the feeling you don’t mind what most people think.”

“It doesn’t change who I am. My family is my priority.” Roremar sighed. “But it always bothered me what you thought.”

“What do you mean?”

“Fates, it aggravated me when you called me Reckless. Senseless.” Emmeline’s lungs pinched, and she opened her mouth to apologize, but Roremar waved it off. “I can’t blame you. I did earn that reputation. I was reckless in the army, but when you said it, it bothered me more than ever. I’m not reckless, Emmeline, but I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get what I need.”

Those words landed with a blow, a promise.

“The benefits have to outweigh the costs,” she whispered, understanding. Just as she stalked criminals and sent them to their graves, Roremar did what he must to take care of his family. He pushed boundaries and leaped without nets, but he was three steps ahead of the rest of them. Those risks were to benefit the people he was responsible for, first in the army, and now his family.

When the cause was so dire, could it be considered reckless at all?

He relied on Falliare now to set up his siblings for a future in which they weren’t beholden to a manipulative uncle. Because that’s exactly what Falliare was doing. Manipulating every last one of them, only no one seemed to acknowledge it aloud. Not even Roremar.

That was something she wasn’t going to touch right now.

“So Falliare funds your family. That’s how you had the horses to get around the isle so easily this entire time?”

“The horses are Aldryn’s, yes, but I rarely use them. I prefer Cirre.”

Her eyes widened, and Roremar laughed. “You ride your pet panther all over the starry isle?”

“She’s not a pet! She’s chosen to live with us, but she belongs to the jungle. And yes, occasionally I do.”

Emmeline blew out a breath. “I didn’t even know you could ride a panther.”

“Most can’t,” Roremar bragged.

She playfully hit his arm, but Roremar caught her hand, eyes heating. “Careful, Huntress,” he warned voice low.

Emmeline bit her lip, fire curling low within her. The same desire she’d felt in the ocean earlier crept up her spine as his eyes dropped to her lips. She leaned an inch further, Roremar’s breathing as ragged as her own, her entire body thrumming with need.

“Emmeline.” Fates, his voice was rough. It trickled down her spine.

Her eyes snapped to his, the silvers reflecting the moon outside the window. It reminded her of starflies on a cloudy night, and⁠—

Starflies. Siena. His family.

They couldn’t do this. She couldn’t allow Roremar any closer. His family needed him too badly, and everyone close to her suffered.

Emmeline swallowed, tugging her hand from his grasp and sitting back. “Cirre has a crescent marking, correct?”