Her chin notched. “It’s not how I am. It’s how you are.”
He winced. That was a fair point. He shook his head. She didn’t allow him to get away with anything. Odd. But he didn’t mind it. In fact, after years of lawlessness on his part, he almost enjoyed the fact that she held him accountable. “Which topic would you like more information on, keeping safety in mind and our current surroundings?”
She turned her head to the side, assessing him through the veil. “Since safety is a concern, perhaps you can tell me about your family.”
His chest tightened. She’d picked his weakest point first.
But to not answer…
He was dangerously close to losing her trust. She grew increasingly resistant to him and while he didn’t want a match with a great deal of emotion, trust seemed like one they couldn’t do without. To even convince her of his and Decadence’s plan, he’d need her to trust him.
“My mother died when we were young. I don’t know to this day what happened. My father passed when I was seventeen. He was old, it was winter, he started on a cough from which he never recovered. I took on the title and the guardianship of my younger sister, Lily.”
“Oh,” she murmured softly, lifting a gloved hand to her mouth. At least he assumed that’s what she was doing.
He looked down at the table. “When I was two and twenty, Lily got sick. It started with her just being tired. But then she found a lump near her armpit.” He swallowed. Six years had passed but it still hurt to discuss.
“A lump?” Avery asked. “How awful.”
He shook his head. “I took her to multiple doctors, a surgeon. We tried everything…” He couldn’t say more. Not here. But memories of the treatments flashed through his mind. Many had seemed worse than the disease. And in the end, none of the treatments had cured her. The exact opposite, in fact.
But her hand dropped to the table and Avery’s fingers extended toward his. He slipped his hand into hers, glad she wasn’t asking him to share any more. “I’m so sorry.”
“She was only seventeen,” he said, though this time, she hadn’t asked. “Her entire life should have been ahead of her.”
The doorknob rattled and Avery slipped her fingers from his, tucking her hands back in her lap as the innkeeper brought in a healthy pot of lamb stew.
His stomach had been grumbling moments before, but as the hot broth was ladled into bowls, he found he didn’t have much of an appetite.
The innkeeper left again, and he sat, staring at the bowl, pushing around bits of meat.
“Life can be so unfair.”
He lifted his head to see that she’d pushed back the veil so that it covered her hair but not her face. The black fabric framed her graceful features, highlighting her beauty. “You don’t think that a disease like that is caused by wrongdoing?” He hated the very notion but so many believed that one got sick because they deserved to.
She shook her head. “I don’t. If it were true, my father would have been plagued by every disease known to man.”
He set down his spoon. Her father.
Isabella’s parting words to him had been a plea to be gentle with Avery. The other woman had claimed that Avery’s father had been cold and cruel. From what little he knew, he believed it. “Tell me.”
She shook her head. “He was the sort of man who was never satisfied with what he had, and he’d take from those around him to get more. My dowry is gone, my mother’s jewels, the ones she’d promised would belong to me were sold shortly after her death.” Her hand tightened about her utensil. “He stole from my cousins, from my uncle. And all the while, he told us how useless and awful we were. As though it was our fault he didn’t have more.”
He winced. “You can never please a person like that.”
She nodded in agreement. “I gave up trying a long time ago. I might have slipped away if I hadn’t had my cousins to show me what a real family looked like.”
His heart had been broken when Lily had passed because he’d loved his sister with all his heart and because he’d been powerless to help her. It was a position he’d promised himself he’d never be in again.
But Avery had been powerless in a different way. He imagined being trapped in a home like that. It was awful. “I have known from the first moment I met you that you were very strong. Now I understand why.”
She gave him a sad smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Let’s eat, shall we? We don’t want our stew to grow cold.”
He picked up his spoon and dipped it into the bowl. This afternoon would be filled with uncomfortable conversation. Might as well fortify himself.
Chapter Four
They’d been riding in silence for the past hour, but Avery was hesitant to break the unspoken truce that had risen up between them.
Mostly because what she’d shared at the inn had left her feeling raw. Why had she said so much about her father? She rarely discussed him with anyone.
And while she was not ashamed or even upset about her father’s treatment, Avery just didn’t see the point of sharing. Her father’s abusive behavior happened in the past. With him gone, she no longer had to deal with his horrific treatment.
So why had she spoken about him at all? She chewed her lip as she considered. Noah had been sharing too and somehow… Her brow wrinkled up. Somehow, she trusted him to listen without judgment. Was that why she didn’t usually talk about her father? Was she worried about what other people might think of him? Of her?
The veil sat on the seat next to her and she fingered the lace around
