It was a reversal from what I’d known of him in my youth. He was always up at first light, rampaging into my room and hauling the mattress off my bed with me still on it, dumping me on the floor. Sometimes clanging pots and pans while announcing the day had begun.
Gods, I was going to enjoy this.
Stomping forward with Violette still on my heels, I grabbed the feather pillow from under Merrick’s head and flung it on the ground. The blankets went next, yanked back to expose my half-brother in his pajamas. He jolted awake, and his head whipped all around until his gaze landed on me.
“Rise and shine, farm boy,” I taunted. “There’s no room for layabouts in this house. We wake, and we work.” In the absenceof a pair of skillets to clatter together, I clapped my hands, yet another effort to goad him into motion.
It was dark, but I knew he was flushed. Red as a beet and so steamed his temples might have been beading with sweat. I’d learned long ago to fear his anger and to avoid his wrath at any cost, but I wasn’t afraid now. Maybe the sleep deprivation had rid me of reason, or maybe his latest affront was simply too great to go unanswered.
“What work?” he croaked, his voice still thick with sleep. He swung his legs off the edge of the mattress in a move toward standing. “Gods, Penwell, have you lost your mind? What time is it?”
Moving to the window, I shoved the drapes aside to reveal the glow of dawn in the distance. When I spun back around, Merrick was on his feet, and Violette lingered near the doorway, observing the conflict with none of her usual mirth.
“Why, it’s morning, of course,” I said. “The beginning of a new day. But this…” I marched over to him, standing eye to eye with my jaw set and my hands flexing. “This is the end.”
Merrick’s expression soured as he looked me up and down. “End of what?”
“Of you taking your hatred of me out on Kit,” I replied. “It’s going to stop.”
He shook his head, further unsettling his mussed blond locks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I leaned closer still, remembering how good it felt when I punched him. When I’d loomed over him since I was the bigger one for once. I wanted to feel that way again. But Kit asked me to be better, to be strong in other ways, and it was for his sake I came here.
“You sent your vulture of a wife to my home. She invaded my privacy, assaulted my…” It galled me to pause, but I did that for Kit’s sake, too. So, I bit back the word I wanted to sayand continued instead with, “Myfriend. Whatever point you're trying to make, consider it made, message received. It's done now. We're done.”
Merrick chortled while managing to show no sign of humor. He opened his mouth to reply, but Violette spoke first.
“You’rethe man,” she said with a gasp.
Merrick and I both spun toward her as her slack-jawed look of surprise transitioned into one of delight.
“You?” She was incredulous enough that I felt myself bristling. I thought I knew what she meant, and there was no doubt left when she snorted and said, “Kit would’ve been better off with Lev.”
I should have denied it. Feigned ignorance at the very least, but then I remembered what she’d done, and I wanted her to know. I needed to make it as clear to her as I’d made it to Tessa that Kit was mine, and I would protect him from any threat, even the wiles of a woman.
“Kit chose me,” I told her. “Levitt missed his chance, and so did you.”
Violette crossed her arms and gave her head a toss. “Pity.” She sniffed. “But I suppose this is one way of keeping dear Kit in the family. He can be the husband of my brother-in-law.”
“Halfbrother-in-law!” Merrick and I blurted in unison, and Violette just cackled.
“Oh, you’re brothers all right,” she said. “You should see yourselves right now. Like mirror images.”
I glanced over at Merrick and caught him similarly looking at me. The identical motion amused Violette all the more, and my fists tightened until my nails dug through the fur inside my gloves and into the leather.
“It’s funny though,” she mused as she strode toward us. “I never took Kit for a philanderer.”
“He’s not,” I growled.
“But hedidkiss me,” she replied. “He might have done more…”
“He didn’t.” I shook my head, and Violette scoffed anew.
“Not that he told you. But hedidtell you something, else you wouldn’t be here.” Her blue eyes seemed to bore through me, cutting holes that would let out the weakness I was trying so hard to hold in.
Still, she pressed.
“What excuse did he give for his infidelity? Boredom? Novelty? Nostalgia?”
