Page 144
Then the barn door swings open.
Cold air creeps across the mats, and my father walks inside wearing a dark overcoat, rain shining on the shoulders.
Two men stand outside the door, and my spine straightens.
“Gentlemen,” he says, offering one of his usual fake smiles. “I hope I haven’t disturbed anything important.”
“We’ve finished training,” Graves pulls off his gloves.
“Very good.”
My father unbuttons his coat and slides a hand into his trouser pocket, walking farther into the barn. His gaze sweeps from Graves to me.
“You’ve been busy, son.”
I take off my right glove first. “I usually am.”
“Yes.” He smiles. “That’s what I used to admire about you.”
Graves walks to the bench, drops his gloves, and reaches for a towel.
“I heard something interesting this morning,” my father says. “And I thought, surely not. Not Fionn. Not my son. He understands discipline and consequences.”
A shiver of understanding moves through me, and I head to the bench, taking off the other glove and dumping them both.
“Tell me it isn’t true,” he says over my shoulder.
I say nothing when I turn to face him.
His smile thins. “Tell me you didn’t brawl in the pub to defend Sera Tallon, then bring her into my home and fuck her under my roof.”
Graves drapes the towel around his neck, his fists curling at either end of it as he stands there. I glance over at him and notice the ever so slight shake of his head. A silent sign between us that tells me he didn't rat me out.
“What if I did?”
My father stares at me, the darkness in his expression spreading into a cold laugh. “You always had a weakness for testing the edge of a blade.”
“Because you were the one holding it.”
His eyes narrow when he sees Graves standing beside me instead of him.
“You’ll marry the Kinnane girl,” he says. “As agreed.”
I shake my head. “I’ve decided that won’t work for me anymore.”
Graves inhales.
My father’s gaze stays locked on mine, his brows drifting higher. “Really? I’d think carefully before you repeat that.”
“I’ve already weighed everything because that’s what you taught me. Right, Father?”
“So, you’ve thought about what would happen when a Tallon whore crawls into my son's bed and convinces him she’s worth more than your loyalty?”
I step into him before the thought finishes. Graves catches my wrist, and my father turns his attention to him.
“That’s the trouble with loyalty,” he says. “Men start to confuse where it belongs.”
My father takes his hand out of his pocket and checks the time on his watch.
