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I stilled my wringing hands in my lap. “I think–”
“Yes,” Valen interrupted. “I do.”
I didn’t know how Valen had got in the room without either of us noticing, but then that was kind of his job. The interruption wasn’t unwelcome. If Dad needed to know the truth, then Valen would need to say his piece as well. As independent as I wanted to be, his feelings weren’t something I could prove alone.
Dad sat back in his chair and watched Valen walk out of the shadows. “Valen Kincaid. I thought you were supposed to be keeping my daughter pure for her future husband, not seducing her.”
I looked between them. “What?”
Dad smirked as Valen came to a stop next to me. “Archer gave Valk very specific instructions regarding his son’s intended. Do not let another man touch her.”
Valen growled. “He was just lucky I had a personal interest in doing so.”
So many more things made sense now. Why Valen had been roughing kids up even before the contract. Why Apollo hadn’t cared, but Valen had. All of that purity bullshit came from outdated ideals on Archer’s part, and jealousy on Valen’s. He’d better believe I’d hang that over him for years.
Dad’s eyebrow quirked and there was a hint of amusement at his lips. “I’ve no doubt. And you profess to love my daughter, Valk? You, a Kincaid?”
“I want to offer myself in place of Apollo,” he said.
Dad looked impressed. For a moment. “That’s not a yes,” he pointed out.
Valen growled again. “Yes. I love Harlow.”
“And you intend to marry her?”
“One day.”
“Help her run the Vanguard family business? Give her heirs?”
“Yes.” It sounded like it cost some effort for Valen to agree.
“Kincaids don’t marry,” Dad seemed to be reminding him.
“This one will.”
“And when your father forbids it?”
“I will kill him if I have to,” Valen snarled, and Dad looked like he believed him.
Dad tapped his desk. “And what would the Kincaids get out of it?”
“Same as the Vanguards. Power.”
“The Vanguards have power in spades, son,” Dad said lazily. “What power could an alliance with the Kincaids bring me?”
“How about a private contract?” Valen asked.
Dad sat forward. “A private contract?”
Valen nodded. “If you let your daughter have me, then I’ll convince my old man to enter into an exclusive contract with the Vanguards.”
Dad looked at me. “That could do it, although the Council won’t like it.”
“You’ll need it,” Valen seemed to agree. “It could be justified.”
So, even Valen knew the consequences of me breaking the contract with the Callahans. Great. I promised myself that was the last time I was the last to know anything.
“Is this really what you want, Harlow?” Dad asked me and, for once, I felt like he was really asking. Like it actually mattered what I wanted.
