“Leave him to you? What right do you have?”
Connall’s jaw clenches hard in the flickering light of the torches, hands clenched in fists at his sides.
“He killed my father, and I have been waiting fifteen years to finish this.”
“He deserved it. Interfering idiot. Allistair is my son. Mine,” Carnell growls weakly.
Gideon ignores him in favor of holding Connall’s gaze.
“Your mother asked him to protect you when you were a child, and Carnell took offense.”
He doesn’t remember it. Learning that there are many things he’s blocked out from that time in his life—and many more he’s wished he could. But there’s something more here—something that Gideon should know.
“Tell me.”
Connall bows, offering him a smile.
“I am Connall O’Daire, your first cousin. My father was your mother’s elder brother.”
They’re family? Now that he knows, he can see his mother a little around Connall’s eyes, and even himself in his smirk.
It hits him, then.
“The old man. He is your grandfather…and mine?”
“Every day, Patrick reminded me what would happen if I rebelled. My grandfather would pay the price if I ever strayed a toe out of line.”
Doing anything to protect your loved ones is something Gideon understands.
“He passed away yesterday.”
The memory of the enigmatic older man on a cold bench in Lupine Park, reminding Gideon he is loved, that he is good, comes to mind. Even the brass plaque with his mother’s name on it—and how he’d made a small request, and then a big one.
“Why didn’t he say anything?” Gideon whispers.
“You had a family. You were free of Carnell; he thought you wouldn’t want to be reminded of him.”
Of megoes unsaid, and for a moment, Gideon sees Connall’s loneliness written in the lines on his face.
“He should have let me decide.”
“I agree, but he was a stubborn bastard. I remember my aunt was much the same.”
And his grandson.
Carnell coughs again, his breathing loud as he chuckles to himself, muttering about winning and the truth after all this time.
“Fuck, shut up, you piece of shit.” Connall kicks him in the side.
Turning to Gideon, he nods at Gideon’s beloved mates.
“As much as I hate to say so, where he can hear it, he’s right. There will be a power vacuum. Are you sure you want to be the one to fill it?”
Following Connall’s gaze to where Leo has his arm around Luca’s shoulders, he realizes that he absolutely does not want to inherit one more thing from Patrick Carnell.
“Fuck no.”
But he is not ready to give up on being the one to avenge his mother, his mates, and himself.
