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"It's not your house." Maela walked out of the morning room, holding Haryth against her hip. "Right now, it's my house. Soon, it may be my son's. These people are my guests, Talin's family, and a part ofthisfamily whether you like it or not."
So Pia turned her ire on Thiemo. "If you touch that man again, I will make sure you want to leave - and the Ranndor name will not go with you."
"Sorry, Mother," Thiemo mumbled, backing away as he headed for the study. "It's not what you think."
Pia just looked at me again, huffed out her anger, then spun and headed back for the stairs. I knew I wasn't the only one who heard the sob she tried to muffle, and that was the only reason I didn't hate her right now.
But Maela headed over. "Oh, Nari," she breathed. "Did she hit you? Your cheek is red."
Which was when a man cleared his throat at the side. We all turned to see Branstan standing there with Danis and Anver. His eyes were a little red around the edges, and yet the man looked as stoic as he ever had.
"I can get you ice for that, Priestess."
"I'm fine, Bran," I assured him. "I'm also getting the impression that the household is a little lost right now?"
"It's been a shock," Bran admitted. "We're... It's..."
So Ela clasped my shoulder. "Make sure Maela and Yamina are ok. I'll have Bran help us organize the staff, and we'll keep the house running." Then he gestured to Anver. "You're with her. Do not let her out of your sight."
"Understood," Anver told him.
So I turned Maela back towards the morning room. "How are you holding up?" I asked.
Letting me guide her, she leaned her head back and sighed. "I'm faking it," she admitted. "Yamina's a mess. Kanten sent letters to every one of the siblings, so they should be arriving tonight or tomorrow. Pia wants to have him laid out - " Her throat pinched.
"It's ok," I promised as we entered the morning room.
There, Yamina sat on the floor with a cluster of handkerchiefs around her. The girl was crying and not even trying to hide it, but she did her best to smile at me in greeting. I turned Maela towards one of the couches and made her sit down, then headed for Yamina. Dropping to my knees, I leaned in and hugged her.
"I'm so sorry," I said yet again.
Yamina nodded. "I should've seen it, Nari. He told Momma to let me wait. He said I didn't have to get married, and I was just so happy that..." She leaned back to see my face. "He knew. I mean, he guessed about us, you know? So he knew I didn't want to marry a man, and he said that was ok, and I think it was his way of saying goodbye."
"It was his way of saying that he loves you," I assured her, wiping the tears from the young woman's cheeks.
Yamina just sniffed, then wiped at the other side. "Sit down, Anver," she said. "Guardians are people here."
"Thank you, Miss Ranndor," he said as he moved to the love seat.
"Yamina," she told him. "And I'm sorry, but we're all a mess. Momma just wanted Talin back here, but she hates you, Nari. She says you're the reason why he's..."
"Am I?" I asked, looking from her to Maela. "Honestly, am I not?"
"You're not," Yamina promised. "Dad is. I mean, Tath was never allowed to be like Thiemo, and we're all like this. We want something we're not allowed to have, and it tears you apart from the inside. Thiemo found a way to make it work. I'm young enough to be ignored. Tath? He couldn't. He was never allowed to just be a person, Nari. He had to be the heir, and then the baron! He..." She had to pause as her emotions threatened to choke her. "Tath could be proud. He could be strong. He could only be a man, nothing else. He wasn't allowed to be a lover, father, or to even worry about things. If he was insecure, he was a failure. If he was sad, then he was weak. Over and over, our father convinced him that he wasn't allowed to be a person. So, when he finally got caught between his goals and his feelings, all he could feel was shame. Not because of what you did, or Ela. It was because he wasn't allowed to be real. He had to be 'the baron' and only 'the baron.'"
"But if we'd never - "
"No," Yamina said, cutting me off. "If you hadn't, then something else would've. My brother wasn't a strong man. He was going to break, and we all knew it. We just didn't expect him to think that his only way to fix it was to give up."
"He left a note," Maela explained.
"So how do I help?" I asked them, deciding that reliving their grief wasn't helping. "Anything, big or small. What do all of you need right now?"
"He'll be buried in the family plot in three days," Maela said. "The day after is the naming ceremony."
"At the City Hall?" Anver asked.
Maela nodded. "The entire family will be there. Any name can be written in the book, but it's usually the direct descendant. With Haryth being so young, it could be Thiemo, though."
