AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Wow," I said, moving toward the mantle. "Did you play with these toys?"
He scoffed. "No. Well, I wasn't supposed to. The horse may have lost its ear due to a boy's imagination, though."
I got close enough to see what he meant, but the fireplace was too warm to stand in front of for long. Making a lap, I inspected the smaller details that proved someone had actually lived here for years. There weren't many, and I had a feeling the staff tried to clean away any signs of real life almost as fast as they happened.
"So?" Talin asked.
I paused in my inspection to look back at him. "So?" I asked back, not sure what he wanted.
"Is it everything you hoped or dreaded? What do you think of my insane family? I dunno, Nari. I'm just curious as to what you think, because you've been so wonderfully perfect since we arrived."
I ran my finger over a line of books on his shelf, aware that one was missing. "I think," I said, finally turning to make my way back toward him, "that I would've suffocated in a house like this. That while it's beautiful, it also feels like it's made of glass and ready to cut if touched wrong." When I reached him, I paused, letting my hands run over his chest. "I also think you look perfect here in a way that's a little intimidating."
"Doesn't have to be," he promised.
"I know." I carefully pulled the pin from his ascot and tucked it into his lapel. "Andyouaren't intimidating, but knowing you're the baron's little brother and seeing it with my own eyes are two very different things. I can't help but think of the life you would've had if you'd never joined the temple."
"A lonely one," he said.
"Yeah," I agreed. "You would've thrived as a baron, but as a baron's brother? I think you would've been miserable. Unable to slake your desire for men because of scandals. Laughed at for respecting women. I think you would've become a bitter man before you turned thirty."
"Or fallen in love with some woman, had an entire herd of children like the rest of my siblings, and struggled to run some company that my family's money had founded," he countered.
I shook my head. "That would've bored you too quickly. The girls never would've enticed you enough to earn a proposal. You, my beautiful guardian, need a challenge, and this life is far too easy for your mind."
He stepped closer, slipping his arm around my back. "How do you make that into a compliment?"
"Because I believe it is one."
"Just..." He reached up to pull a pin from my hair, letting the side tumble free before reaching for the second. "Please be careful here, Nari? My mother and youngest sister are harmless. My oldest sister has no bad intentions, but doesn't hold her tongue well." He pushed my hair pins into his lapel, beside his tie pin. "But my brother?"
"He thinks I'm your weakness," I said, showing I understood.
"You are." Gently, he teased my hair loose, helping it relax. "And you didn't see how he looked at you. He thinks you're something he can devour. He's so convinced that his title will make him irresistible to you. He'll make his move soon enough, hoping to get you in his bed before the week is out, then he'll make sure everyone in this house knows it. Maela will hate you for it, my mother will be disappointed in all of us, my little sister will never look at you the same. This whole life? It's a house of cards, and it doesn't take much before it will implode."
"It's going to be ok," I assured him. "We'll - "
But one of those tinkling bells sounded again. Talin groaned, proving he knew what it meant, and turned for the anteroom we'd first entered. "Come," he called that way. "It's open."
His eldest sister, Lina, eased the door open. "I brought you a nightcap," she said, carrying a large silver tray with a crystal decanter and two cut crystal glasses placed on it. Then she glanced over to where I still stood in the middle of his bedroom with my hair down. "Am I interrupting?"
"No," Talin assured her. "Give me that and come sit. I just wanted to give Nari the chance to relax after the intensity of our family."
He picked up the tray, but beneath that, she held a wooden box, balancing the whole thing on top of it. The sides were polished and ornately carved, proving this was something important. Talin saw it and smiled, tilting his head for her to claim a seat even as he aimed for the table by his fireplace.
"Where are the others?" he asked.
"All three are in there," she assured him. "I figured you could gift the box to the High Priest, since you and your friend won't need it."
I trailed after them. "Is that what I think it is?" I asked.
Talin set the tray in the middle of the table just as Lina took a seat and opened the case toward us. Inside, nestled in a pile of black satin, were three pistols. Two were made from a black-stained wood, trimmed with beautiful silver pieces. The last was a deep mahogany-colored wood with brass fittings, making it clear which one he intended to gift.
"Flints are down here," she said, opening a drawer at the bottom. "None are fitted yet, but the maker said it was evident how to put them in. As for ammunition..." She pointed toward his bed. "I put a sample of lead balls, a box of lead bars, and the rest of what you asked for in a crate under there."
"Oh, Lina," Talin breathed, setting the box on the table just to lean down and hug her. "You are a lifesaver."
"Whyguns?" she asked. "That's what I don't understand."
