“This is my home,” he hissed. “Penwell has no right to absolve me of it or anything else.”
Penny had every right, but that didn’t bear repeating now.
“But my question remains,” Merrick continued. “Why are you here?”
I spread my hands to indicate the plow and the field. “There’s work to be done.”
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t be dense. That isn’t what I mean.”
“Whatdoyou mean, then?”
“Why did you return to Ashpoint? What do you possibly hope to accomplish that you couldn’t manage thirteen years ago?”
It wasn’t what I expected him to ask. I leaned my hip against the stretchers between the handles of the plow and quirked a brow. “It was time to take my rightful place,” I said. “It was time to go home.”
“Home,” he scoffed. “You don’t believe that.”
The rain picked up, heavy drops chasing across the landscape and drowning out the mist. Rivulets of moisture traced a chilly trail down the middle of my back and made me shiver.
“What do you want me to say, Merrick? Because clearly you’re looking for a particular answer, so save us both the time and ask what you really want so we can be done with it.”
His green eyes looked sharp as flint in the muted light, and they bore into me with an intensity that made my skin itch. We might have been equals here, but he still had a power over me that I couldn’t shake.
“You visit the Right Hand with some frequency,” he said at length. “What about?”
I chuckled to mask my unease. I didn’t remember a single visit with Levitt where Merrick had been in his office acrossthe hall, so someone else must have kept him apprised of my comings and goings. Had they listened in and given the Shroud Warden those stolen details, too? Or was he fishing for them now because theyhadn’t?
“A man’s not allowed to spend time with his friends?” I asked. “Levitt and I grew up together. We’ve had a lot of catching up to do.”
“Social calls,” Merrick said flatly.
I shrugged and motioned for him to lead the mare on. “Should we have been talking about other things?”
His mouth twisted in a grimace as he yanked on the horse’s bridle to get her moving again.
I guided the plow in silence for several more rows, trying not to think about how aware Merrick might be of my plans with Levitt. I didn’t want to consider how much more he might be privy to than I expected.
The Right Hand was careful in all he did, but he’d been gauging the Death Watch’s support of his Shroud Warden for months now. No matter how gently he approached the topic, Merrick still had support in enough places to make Levitt wary of making moves too soon. Klaus at least had voted in support of Merrick’s latest accusations. Had he been whispering in Merrick’s ear every time Levitt felt him out to see where his loyalties lay?
It felt so fragile, this thing Levitt and I were planning. Delicate enough that a swift breeze might bring it all down around our ears. But if Merrick knew any of the details of what we were planning, he wouldn’t have watched me so intently while he asked about it, doubtless hoping I would give something away. I clung to that small comfort and forced my mind to the task at hand.
We were halfway through the field the next time Merrick jerked the horse to a stop. He nearly toppled into the mud,curses hissing out between his gritted teeth as he hung on her bridle to steady himself. His left boot was sunk ankle-deep in the soggy ground. Despite his best efforts to yank his foot free, it didn’t budge.
I bit back a chuckle and averted my eyes. My gaze swept across the rain-hazy landscape and settled on Penny’s silhouette in the shadows of the open hay loft door. I could imagine his amusement at the scene playing out before me, which only made it harder to withhold my own, and I had to look away again.
When my gaze returned to Merrick, he was looking at me. He tracked my sightline to the hay loft, and his face crumpled in anger.
“It's a poor ruse,” he spat, “your supposed affection for my half-brother.”
The sudden assertion caught me so off guard that I couldn’t muster a response before he pressed on.
“You saw his worth in this farm, and you understood the favor it could buy you.” Merrick gestured at the house, the barn, and the fallow fields beyond a thin line of spindly trees. “You wanted the bounty of this land because it would makeyoumore valuable. Penwell may be easily wooed by your attentions, but I see right through you.”
His chest heaved with panting breaths, all impotent fury and indignation. The longer I watched him, the angrier he got until his face was splotched red and he looked ready to leap over the plow and shake me. Not that he could have done that with his foot still trapped in the mud.
“You know, Ialmostbelieved for a moment there that you cared,” I said finally. “That you were bothered by the thought of me taking advantage of Penny and not just mad thatheis the rightful owner of the property you promised to Ashpoint.”
His lip curled, but I didn’t give him the satisfaction of getting a word in before I continued.
