Page 28 of The Heir's Defiance

We sit like that for a long time—long enough that the heat between us cools and the quiet sets in. She doesn’t speak, but her breath stutters against my chest. Eventually, she pulls back just enough to meet my eyes.

“I did something,” she says.

I wait because she's finally opening up and I need to know what got her so rattled.

“I shot someone.” Her voice is steady, but her eyes are anything but. “One of ours.”

The words hang there, waiting to collapse the room. She has so much pain in her eyes.

“I went to the docks, Connor. He had a clean shot at you,” she goes on. “He was one second away from pulling the trigger, and I didn’t even think. I didn’t warn him. I didn’t call out. I just… pulled the trigger first.”

My hands stay on her back firmly, pinning her to my body. Her mouth trembles, but she’s past crying. I remember the first time I killed someone and I can only imagine what she's feeling.

“I wasn’t protecting my family,” she says. “I wasn’t thinking about loyalty or survival. I just saw you and… I pulled the trigger.”

I breathe through it. It should shock me but it doesn’t. It's my fault. I all but announced where I'd be, and what did I expect from her? This is getting too messy, too risky.

“He’s dead,” she adds. “And I don’t feel sorry. That’s the worst part. I feel sick, but not because I killed him. Because I didn’t hesitate.” The guilt coils around her like a second skin. She sinks into the cushions, eyes vacant, voice small. “And now my fatherwants me to use you. He told me to press you on the peace talks. He thinks I can sweeten you up and draw out whatever you’re hiding.”

My hand shifts to the back of her neck, and I force her to look back at me again. The idea of Seamus controlling her enrages me. It makes my chest hammer and my pulse race.

“I think he believes I’ll do it.” Her lip quivers as she speaks, and I search her eyes for the truth.

“Do you think you will?” I ask her, but I know what an impossible situation she's in.

She doesn’t answer right away. When she does, it’s barely a whisper.

“I don’t know. I’m afraid he's not going to give me a choice.” Her eyes well up. "I don't want him to kill you."

That’s the thing I’ve known all along. If anyone were going to unravel me, it would be her. Now she’s starting to wonder the same thing. Seamus will get what he wants one way or another, or I'll be the one to put a stop to it. And I don't know if I can do that if it will hurt Nora.

16

NORA

The car door slams behind me, and the last of Ciara's perfume still clings to my jacket as I chuckle at her last joke. “Tell your cousin he still owes me those earrings,” Ciara calls from the back seat, all curls and chaos and unfiltered opinions. Her sunglasses are too big for her face, her lipstick already smudged, but she’s the only person I know who can make a four-hour shopping trip feel like therapy.

“I’ll make sure he pays in full,” I say, leaning in for a quick cheek kiss before stepping back.

Liam slides out of the passenger seat, quiet as always, eyes scanning the perimeter with that taut, unreadable focus he wears like armor. I wave as Ciara's car peels off, music thumping from the speakers, and fades around the curve toward the end of the drive. Then I scowl at Liam, who spent the entire day reminding me that he wasn't my "babysitter". Da heard about him letting me sneak out and finally put his foot down.

Now I can't go anywhere without one of his men, so thankfully, I chose Liam because he's easy to manipulate. I'm sure I'll have a more difficult time making plans with Connor, but if we'redetermined to do this anyway, it will get worse before it gets better.

The doors to the library are already open when I walk into the foyer. That’s how I know Da's in a mood again. Seamus Fitzpatrick doesn’t bother to conceal strategy inside his own home when he’s furious. Maps are spread across the library table—creased at the folds, corners weighted down with empty whiskey glasses. Two of his senior advisors stand over them, arguing low enough that I can’t make out the words. No one notices me.

He doesn’t look up.

I shift the shopping bags to one arm. The receipt slips from the tissue paper and drifts to the floor. Still, no one blinks. There’s no nod, no greeting, not even a glance. I could be a ghost.

Ciara and I bought a few things I'm itching to try on, wondering what Connor will think of them. And I have a bit of reading to catch up on too, maybe water the plants, but I stand there in the doorway of the library staring at the maps, and I know it isn't good. This is what the dispute at the docks was over. It makes my blood run cold. I take a step closer to the table and it triggers a response.

When Da finally speaks, it isn’t my name he says, just, “Progress?”

The word reaches out and smacks me. I know he's angry, but to treat me like a soldier here to report isn't okay. I'm his daughter. I'm supposed to be his princess. One of the advisors glances at me.

He exhales through his nose and only then lifts his gaze to mine. His eyes are bloodshot around the edges. He looks drunk andtired. Those glasses weighing the maps down weren't always empty. I can see that.

"I've asked you to find out what is going on with the O'Rourkes, Nora, and you've given me nothing."

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