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Caelan had to agree that made sense and he couldn’t deny it. Squeal he had, very loudly.
“Did you visit their families?” asked Caelan.
“Every single one,” said Eric, “despite your prince trying to contain me inside London’s invisible ringfence.”
Caelan snickered at that. “He wants to knight me.”
“Eh, why not,” Eric chuckled, rubbing his nose. “It’d make Flora a lady, wouldn’t it?”
“I ne’er thought of that.”
“Getting slow in your old age.”
Caelan felt a stabbing in his heart as he looked into Eric’s almost pearlescent gaze. “How was Hamish’s missus?”
Eric looked away. “She clung to me until she nearly ripped the arm off my leather jacket.”
Caelan’s hands became heavy in his lap and he bowed his head, shaking it, his heart sinking to hear it. “I’ll pop in when we’re back in Scotland.”
Eric looked pragmatic. “She’s a strong woman, she’ll get through it. She’s got grown-up boys nearly and they’ll have families of their own soon. Life goes on.”
Caelan used to think of himself as a bit of a sociopath, but whereas he exhibited only slight tendencies, Eric was a full-blown specimen if ever he met one. Knowing what he knew now…
“We’d moved to London for political asylum, if you were wondering,” said Eric in English, before continuing in Russian, a language he knew Caelan had learnt long ago as part of one of his missions. “Eventually when things changed out there, he was offered the chance to be welcomed home with open arms. My mother wouldn’t leave her homeland and my brother was determined to provide, so… it was the best thing for everyone, or so it seemed. My father was a brutal, evil pig who made me into what I am, yes. My mother an apathetic junkie who was really no better as a parent. I yearned for a father, someone to look up to. I thought when I joined up, maybe you… maybe I latched on. You reminded me of him a bit. And he would send me letters asking how I was getting on. I would lie and tell him I’d won this and that. Maybe to try and bring him home.”
Caelan clapped his hand on Eric’s shoulder. “I understand now. All of it.” More than Eric could possibly guess at.
Eric reverted back to English. “I understood how evil he truly was when Ogarkov and I got to talking.”
Caelan nodded his head. “He spilled his guts to me about your father, too.”
“That’s when I concocted that plan which would’ve done very nicely if you hadn’t swanned in when you had.”
Caelan winced and rolled his eyes, continuing with the pretence. “Weeel, how was I to know?”
“It doesn’t matter,” said Eric, “someone, somewhere will find a way. Somehow, we always do.”
“Aye, verra true,” said Caelan.
Flora walked into the room and swung her arms around Caelan from behind, kissing his hair and repeating, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” She hugged him tight and he clasped his hands over hers.
“Dinna get too excited, princess,” said Caelan. “We’ve got a long way to go.”
“I know, but let me have this moment with my father. All right?”
“All right,” said Caelan, turning to look up at Flora, who launched forward and planted a smacking kiss on her husband.
“He’s back, is he?” Flora asked, winking as she moved over to Eric and wrapped her arms around his neck next, her breasts squeezed against his back.
Eric looked pleased as punch to have Flora in his vicinity, let alone with her arms around his neck and her cheek pressed alongside his.
“We cleared up our misunderstanding,” said Eric, turning his head and kissing Flora on the cheek. “Does that make you happy?”
“Hmm, exceedingly. This day just gets better!” she yelled, before grabbing two waters for her and Blake.
When she was gone from the room, Caelan observed Eric rubbing at his red cheeks. “You really do love her?”
“She’s you, but female,” said Eric, smirking.
