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CHAPTER22
Despite the urgency of his tone, Kieran waited until they were on the back stone patio of the manor house before turning on Holly.
“What was that?”
The distinct feeling of déjà vu washed over Holly at his words, identical to the question Synora had asked last night. It seemed her parents were destined to bring that question out of her mates.
“What was what?” Holly asked, the exhaustion from before dinner washing over her as she sank into one of the chairs on the patio. Her stomach hurt, and she’d barely had any dinner, but a spark of defensiveness at Kallan’s questions flared in her gut. Hadn’t she told them how to manage her parents?
“I know you have a contentious relationship with your parents,” Kallan said, “but you let him walk all over you.”
Holly rubbed a hand over her face. “I did not. I managed him. I told you all he would be difficult.” Her head felt like someone was pounding on it. It had been an emotionally draining day, with everything going on. She rubbed her eyes and winced when it felt like grains of sand were stuck behind her lids. She did not want to have this conversation right now, especially when they hadn’t listened to her on how to handle her papa.
“There’s difficult, there’s frigid, and then there’s just plain rude and condescending,” Synora said, leaning against the wall of the manor.
“I have to agree with Synora on this one,” Kieran said, running a hand over his face. “He all but told us he was going to match you with someone else as if our bonds don’t matter.”
“And you just sat there.” Kallan’s words were delivered in a cold tone that shot chills up Holly’s spine and stoked the anger in her gut. How dare he assume she just sat there. She did not. She had tried to manage the situation. Not that they had helped with that.
“I did not just sit there,” Holly said, anger coloring her tone. “I managed his emotions, which is all I can do with him.”
“It’s not your responsibility to manage his feelings or anyone else’s,” Synora told her. “He’s an adult—his feelings are his own. You could have used your words.”
Holly shook her head. “He doesn’t listen to words. I told you this. It’s best to let him get it out of his system. I was managing it with my magic. It’s what I always do, and it’s the best way to handle him.”
“Empath magic is used to help people, not control them,” Kallan said. “It’s never been an Empath’s job to manage emotions. Vali should have told you that. Especially not controlling abusive fathers.”
Oh, now Holly was really pissed. “He’s not abusive! And I’ve been managing his emotions just fine for my entire life. It’s how I prevent situations like that from getting worse.”
“If that’s what your good looks like,” Kallan said, with an extra layer of snark that was unusual for him, “I don’t even want to know what worse is.”
“Don’t you think you’re overreacting?” Holly shot back. “I told you he would need time.” If they had just listened to her on this, this whole situation could have been avoided.
“One can take time to wrap their head around their situation without being rude, or attacking one of their daughter’s mates!” Kallan said back.
Holly threw her hands in the air. “Why can’t you just trust me to handle my papa? I told you he needed time. I told you I am managing him. I could manage him if you would trust me to.”
“Maybe I could trust you to do that if I thought you even wanted this!” Kallan’s cutting words sliced right through Holly’s anger.
“What?” she stammered out. They thought she didn’t want them? She looked at Kieran and Synora, waiting for them to refute Kallan’s claim, but they didn’t, only looking at her with expressionless faces. “How could you think that?”
Kallan’s voice was even now, like he was discussing the weather rather than uttering words that were slicing through Holly’s heart. “I understand you think you are ‘managing’ your papa, but not once did you defend us. You’ve been cagey about your childhood and slow to share anything of importance. You didn’t even tell us you were an Empath until it put you in mortal danger.”
Holly stared at Kallan, hearing the words coming out of his mouth but struggling to process them. He thought she didn’t want them. And the others thought the same? She had been slow to warm up, hadn’t expected them, had been frustrated she couldn’t read their emotions, but she wanted them. She had shown that, right?
“Hey, now, I know we’re all frustrated, but it’s been a long day,” Kieran started.
Kallan must have mistaken her silence for her answer, because he sighed and scrubbed his face, any anger in his stance fading away. “Look, I feel like we’ve been clear from the start with you about wanting this—wanting you. Maybe you need more time to figure out if this is what you want. But, more importantly, maybe you need more time to see what your papa has been doing. What he’s been conditioning you to believe as his puppet.”
Holly cringed at the unintentional use of her papa’s childhood nickname for her, but Kallan continued. “Take time and decide if you really want this. If we’re worth opening your eyes and maybe even standing up to your papa for.”
With those words, Kallan turned and stalked into the house. Kieran followed him, giving her a sad look but following his brother nonetheless. Holly’s body felt frozen, like she had been turned to stone and all she could do was watch as they walked away from her.
Synora paused by Holly’s chair and took a deep breath, looking out into the darkness instead of down at Holly before she spoke. “We want the woman we’ve seen the last few weeks. The woman we saw tonight is a stranger. Do you want the life your father has dictated for you, or do you want a life with us?”
She didn’t wait around for Holly to answer. She simply walked back into the manor house, leaving Holly outside with her shattered heart.
CHAPTER23
