Idid.
I really did.
I couldn’t say that, or anything else, with my tongue tied up in shock, but I nodded and gulped at the thickness in my throat and, when my mother looked at me, she smiled.
“What aboutyourlovely wife, Merrick?” Sayla had pulled free of Warren, who was fumbling his way through clasping the chain around her wrist while she aimed all her ire at our half-brother. “The woman no one has met, and that you have not deigned to tell us about? Doesshebring you happiness?”
Kit made a choked sound I covered with my bark of a laugh.
I thought I’d been happy before, but now I was gleeful. I was almost glad Merrick had come home, after all. Without realizing, he’d wandered onto a battlefield on which he was vastly outnumbered, and I’d never felt so much like the victor.
Warren had blushed his way through his proposal, but his bright red was nothing in comparison to the purple flush of rage saturating Merrick’s face. He gripped the edge of the table while casting a scowl from Sayla to me to Kit. He looked primed for violence, enough so that I took up my dinner knife.
If he raised a hand to my sister or my intended, he would lose it. Blunt blade or no.
“Sayla,” Mother said, sounding aghast. “What are you talking about?”
She didn’t get the chance to answer before Merrick launched into a response of his own.
“All right, if this is the time for honesty”—he targeted Kit and me—“which of you would like to tell everyone what you’vereallybeen up to for the past six months?”
His attention settled on me, taunting because heknewhow much I cared. He knew how badly he could hurt me, because he already had. Over and over for the whole of my life.
“Penwell,” he declared, “how about you? You’re rarely at a loss for words.”
I kept my hold on the knife as I stood.
“You know what?” I loomed over him, hoping I looked more menacing than afraid. “Idohave something to say.”
Merrick reposed in his seat like it was his turn to watch a show. I intended to give him exactly that.
“I warned you not to come back here,” I said, biting at every word. “I told you we didn’t need your help, and you should have stayed away. Your life is in Ashpoint, mine is here, and you’re no longer welcome in it.”
Merrick remained seated for a handful of seconds before he planted his feet and pushed back to stand. I was still taller than him, just enough to look down my nose at his furrowed brow and snarling lips.
“Is this what you thought Father intended when he left you the farm?” he asked. “That you could become a tyrant? Throw me out in the cold after nightfall and cast me aside? Maybe it is, because that’s whathedid tomethe day you were born.”
I'd been taught to withdraw from him. Retreat. Surrender. But those were the actions of a frightened child, and I was a man now. And for all his resistance, I had him on the run.
“It only got worse after that godsdamned fire,” Merrick snapped. “I saw the way he coddled you, and I didn’t even recognize him. And when his judgment started to fail along with his body, something had to be done.”
All my resolve and every scrap of self-righteousness withered as the implications of his statement sank in.
Merrick was a Bone Man. He had been for years. He stole Father's body as a sacrifice for Eeus. He intended the farm to beanother tribute. He had shown his willingness to do anything for his position. Lie, cheat, and attempt murder. Or succeed at it.
“Merrick…” I used the last of my air to breathe the question, “What did you do?”
The ensuing silence was palpable, a nasty taste, and I wondered if everyone else had deduced what I had. I didn't need to wonder long because Merrick kept speaking and removed all doubt.
“I hoped you would succumb to the hemlock the same way Father did, but that one”—he stabbed a finger at Kit—“was so damned and determined to save you that he ruined everything.”
Kit stood so suddenly his chair tipped over and crashed onto the floor. It sounded like breaking, or maybe that was me, fracturing under the weight of a horribly undeniable truth.
“L-leave.” My voice sounded foreign in the roar of my ears. “Leave me… leaveus, alone.”
He intended to argue. I saw the protest brewing and I wasn't sure I was strong enough to withstand another blow. I shrunk back, feeling helpless and small and defeated when I thought I'd finally won.
Then there was a presence at my back. A damp body and warm hands wrapped me up, steadying me because I was suddenly so very tired.
