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Loïc waved a dismissive hand. “No, no. It was enough that you rescued yourself. When I asked the first man I was given to what on earth had given him such a scar on his dick, he told me it was you. All of your siblings are very proud. Such a scar – and you only having your milk teeth as a weapon.” He slapped his hands together and grinned in approval. “I wish I would have had your nature, but I’m made of meeker stuff.”
They sipped their coffee companionably for a few minutes. Rodrigo, of all people, still seemed to be struggling the most – his face had gone tight and his dark eyes snapped with rage. Maybe he should have told him later, in private. Minnow had stayed outwardly calm through Loïc’s explanation, but she was still clutching Severin’s hand in a death grip.
As for himself, Severin wasn’t surprised by any of it, really. If anything, he was pleased his sisters hadn’t been abused. He hoped, even though they’d been forced into political marriages, that they were happy. There was probably something wrong with being thankful his sisters had only been subjected to arranged marriages.
“Enough about us, though. Our sister, Aurelie, always remembered you, and told us all sorts of stories about you when we were small children – bits and pieces, since she was too young to remember more. She remembered there was a big brother, and she refused to shut up about you. She was very worried you’d been lost in the woods. Years later, mother told us all about how you were sent away for refusing to entertain guests – that you were little more than a beast. So...” He cocked his head and seemed to suppress a grin. “What exactly is wrong with you?”
“There’s nothing wrong with him,” Rodrigo snapped. “He’s the best man I know.”
Minnow was glaring at Loïc too, but Severin only sighed.
“No one knows what’s wrong with me. I’m a dick and I hate people. There’s probably a name for it but I don’t give a shit if there is.”
“Fair enough,” Loïc replied, amused. “But as much as you say you hate people, apparently people don’t hate you.” He gestured vaguely at Rodrigo and Minnow. “I think they’re both ready to toss me out on my ear. Forgive me, mon frère. I’ve been anxious to meet you for so long that I’m probably doing this poorly. I also haven’t been quite right since Martine died. What does one do when they’re suddenly and unexpectedly freed? It’s such a pleasure not having to be entertaining and polite anymore.”
“It’s fine,” Severin said, leaning his head back on the couch.
“You’ve lived here all along?”
“Yes. First with a woman and her son – my mother and my brother. When she died, another woman came to take her place. She died recently. Between them, Rodrigo, and now Minnow, they’ve more than made up for what I lost.”
Loïc nodded, pressing his lips together. “I’m not here to try to replace anyone, Seb – je m’excuse – Severin. I’d always fantasized she’d send me away too, so I could live with you in your creepy institution.” He leaned in and whispered, “It’s less creepy than I expected, but it really does feel like the cherubs are watching.”
“It’s easier if you don’t make eye contact with them,” Rodrigo advised drily. At least someone’s manners were still functioning.
Loïc laughed, glancing at Severin as though asking him to join in the levity, but he wasn’t in the mood to fake social niceties.
“Martine dying must have changed everything for you,” Minnow said gently.
Loïc’s gaze rested on her, and his expression went from amused to touched, maybe even grateful. She had a way of reading feelings that awed Severin, but he didn’t know how he felt about her being kind to this unknown brother. Church he trusted implicitly with her – and Rodrigo too – but this guy was basically a stranger who shared some of his genetics. He’d have no qualms about trying to lure her away.
His brother cleared his throat. “Yes. Everything has changed for me. Since she died, I’ve been trying to sort out my life. I sold her businesses, took petty revenges on the men who used me cruelly.” He shrugged. “I divided and redistributed her assets. The house I burned to the fucking ground. Don’t tell the insurance company I said that. Some of that money is yours too.” He chuckled. “Now we’re all dreadfully wealthy, and I never have to suck another dick for her as long as I live. You were the last piece of the puzzle. Well, you and what to do with the rest of my empty, fucked-up time in this world.”
If he was hoping Severin would have answers for the latter, he was sadly mistaken.
*
“I can’t help but like him,” Minnow said to Severin later that night, after they’d sent Loïc off to bed at what would have been very late – or early the next day – in France. They’d spent the whole day giving him a tour of the grounds and generally getting to know each other.
Severin snuck a look at her for what felt like the hundredth time since Loïc had rung the doorbell. Her cheeks were pink from the walk outside and the wine, and possibly from the company. He grunted.
“You don’t like him?” she asked in a whisper.
They’d put him at the other end of the wing, away from their rooms, but who knew if he might drop by for something.
“He’s fine,?
? Severin said, building up the fire. The bedroom was pleasantly cool, but considering he’d just signaled Minnow to strip, she was probably cold. She was so small the cold went right through her if he wasn’t careful.
“It must be weird meeting him. You get to see what life would have been like if you hadn’t been sent away.”
He sat in his favorite chair. “I should have been there to protect them. If I hadn’t attacked Monsieur Charles, I would have been there to shield them from all of it.”
“If you hadn’t attacked him, the abuse would have started earlier for Loïc. You boys would have made her more money.”
“Rentals are a lucrative business, but I guess she had to learn the hard way that they tend not to last as long if you don’t take care of them properly.”
She put her hand on his shoulder and he flinched before he could catch himself. When she tried to step away, he caught her wrist and drew her into his lap. “Sorry,” he said, hugging her close. “I want you right here. You just surprised me.”
