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Dutch waited until the room settled. Five cuts lay on the table beside him, each with the Venom patch on the back and Kettlewell Cold Bay beneath it.

“Many of you know I turned up in Kettlewell without warning,” he said. “We talked. We rode. We drank. These men kept one of ours safe for a year. I trust them.”

Redd stood with his hands behind his back, looking straight at Dutch.

“Kettlewell’s yours to run,” Dutch said. “Do Venom proud. Welcome to the family.”

He called Redd up first and handed him a cut. “President.”

Redd gripped his hand. The two of them held on for a moment before Dutch called Moff forward as VP. Then Esco, sergeant at arms; Rix, road captain; and Argus, treasurer. Nick looked down at the Venom patch on his cut and grinned. Simon took his without a word, but he stood a little straighter beside the others.

Dutch stepped aside and let Redd speak.

“We chose this together,” Redd said, looking along the line of his men. “We’ll look after Kettlewell, and we’ll show up when Venom needs us.” Then he took in the packed room. “Next time forty of you come north, warn me. My house hasn’t got that many beds.”

The room broke into laughter, then applause. Wren whistled. Sparrow heard the noise and slapped her hands against the cup.

Colt caught me by the back of the neck. “Look what you did.”

At the front, Redd had an arm around Moff’s shoulders while Nick tried to pull the other three into the same embrace. “Look at them,” I said.

Wren was talking to Lilac when Indira came for Sparrow, and I let Holden pull me aside to meet a couple of prospects. I looked over whenever I could. Wren was there, laughing at something Lilac said, until she wasn’t.

I checked the hall, then the kitchen. Through the open door to the back steps, I heard Dutch’s voice. He was sitting beside her, elbows on his knees. Wren had a plate in her lap and hadn’t touched the food.

I stayed out of sight. I hadn’t asked Dutch to check on her but he’d noticed she was gone too.

“You keep telling me you’re fine,” he said. “Are you?”

Wren set the plate beside her. “I wasn’t sure I would be. Yesterday, when I walked in, I thought all I’d see was that night.”

Dutch waited.

“Then Austen hugged me. I looked around and remembered family dinners, and sitting at the bar with Lilac, laughing at Handful when he thought he was being funny.” She glanced toward the open door. “I was happy here. I don’t want to lose all of that because of one night.”

I remembered those dinners too. I’d spent the whole weekend picturing the night I’d ruined and none of the years before it.

“And today?” Dutch asked.

“Today I watched my brother get his cut. I watched Seb grin like an idiot. I’m all right.”

Dutch nodded. “Good. You tell me if that changes.”

“I will.” She leaned her head against his shoulder for a moment. “You can stop checking now.”

“Probably won’t,” he said.

She laughed. So did I, quietly, from the kitchen. I let go of the doorframe. Dutch had come after her without waiting for me to ask. I wanted to thank him, but that would mean admitting how long I’d stood there listening.

Chapter 28

❧

— Wren —

I’d packed the costume in Kettlewell on Thursday night, beneath Sparrow’s clothes while Seb worked on his laptop a few feet away. The mask went in last. I hadn’t decided whether I’d wear either of them. I wanted the choice.

At four on Saturday, after the ceremony, I found Indira in the clubhouse kitchen. She froze when I told her what was in my bag.