Page 78 of Unseen

My father sat by the window, his hand perched on a walking stick, his attention caught by something outside. Hewas so much older now, barely any hair on the top of his head, the rest a thinning white veil. Round spectacles sat on his nose, and his clothing was not of this decade. He looked dated, out of place, a relic from another era. Just as my deceased husband had been.

“Father,” I said quietly as Azriel and I stopped by the fireplace. “I am here to see you with my new husband.”

The old, weary man did not stay that way for long. At the sound of my voice, his head whipped around, his venomous gaze landing on us. He shoved the cane against the ground, pushing himself to his feet with a loud huff, and his face was red as he looked over his spectacles at us.

“You have some nerve showing your face here, Caine.” He wagged a finger in Azriel’s direction. “I’ve half a mind to have you charged.”

“Charged with…?” Azriel’s voice was far too self-assured.

“Indecency,” my father snarled. “You had no right to do what you did.”

“And what is it that I have done?” Azriel swept a hand to the chaise, and removed his hat. “Beloved, here, sit. You’ve had a long journey.”

My father wobbled only slightly on his cane as he darted his finger at Azriel’s face. “You watch yourself, boy! This is not your house and-”

“Is it not?” Azriel gave my father a faux frown, looking at me with a shrug. “I was rather under the impression that I was paying all the bills for this place, was I not, Evie? Does that not rather make me the owner of this house?” He turned back to my father with a languid grin. “Or at least, the landlord. And you, my lord, the tenant.”

My father slammed his walking stick into the ground, his lips turning purple as he turned to me with an outstretched hand. “This, this is the man you have married? A man who would speak in such a way to his betters?”

“He is right though, father, is he not?” I perched myself demurely on the chaise, clasping my hands in my lap. “I’ve no doubt Aunt Adelaide informed you of the change in Acton’s will.”

My father grunted, waving his hand through the air. “Bah, that nonsense. He had no right. He cannot simply change a will when an agreement has been made! I gave him my most precious possession, entrusted him with my only daughter, on the strict agreement that he look after her, and all of us as well. And the blaggard cannot change that, no matter what document he signed!” My father sneered at Azriel, wrinkling his nose as he looked him up and down. “But there you were, more than willing to sweep in out of the shadows like the damned ghoul you are.”

“That’s enough, father.” I reached up and took Azriel’s hand, and he gazed down at me adoringly. “Had I not accepted Azriel’s hand, we would all be quite destitute. We must be grateful for his generosity, and his willingness to take me on with no dowry, with nothing to offer him.”

Azriel kissed my hand gently. “You give me everything, beloved. I could ask for almost nothing.”

My, my, there we were. Two seasoned actors giving my father the performance of their lives.

Not that it did anything to move him, of course.

He scoffed and sputtered openly, slamming his cane into the ground several times, like a deranged Rumpelstiltskin, furious he’d lost a bet.

“This is an outrage!” He wheezed, coughing into a handkerchief. “You’ve no idea what you’ve done! What this means for our family!”

“I think she knows very well,” Azriel countered, turning back to face my father. “And that once again, she has had to step in and accomplish what you are too feeble to do yourself.”

“And what is that?”

“Save your family from ruin.” Azriel gave me a side glance, rubbing his thumb over the knuckles of my hand still tightly tucked into his own. “Such a beauty is truly a blessing for a father that has nothing else to offer. I do wonder that my father was the only fortuitous match she could have made.” Azriel’s head pivoted back towards my father slowly, a serpentine smile on his face. “Although, that is not quite the truth of it, is it?”

I tensed, watching my father’s expression change from fury to bewilderment, his eyes darting about the room as he spluttered again into the white handkerchief.

“There-there were n-no other options!” He gasped for breath, shaking his head. “None! We were penniless, nothing but a landholding that had fallen into disrepair, nothing but a good name! Acton Caine fell in love, and what good fortune that he did!”

“Fell in love. Hmmm.” Azriel huffed out a breath. “Is that what motivated him to steal my bride? That is the first I’ve heard of it.”

My head snapped up to look at him, panic constricting my lungs. “What did you say?” I looked over at my father, whose chest shook as he continued to cough. “Father, what does he mean? What does he mean, his bride?”

“I-I-” My father broke off, hacking into his fist, and collapsed back into his chair as Azriel crossed the room to pour the old man a glass of water.

“Here, my lord. You mustn’t expire before you’ve told your daughter the very best part of this story.” He smiled indulgently as my father glared up at him, sipping the water, and spluttering half of it straight back into the cup. “Easy now, gently.” Azriel held the cup steady in my father’s trembling hands. “I must have the place inspected for mildew, that may well be making you ill, my lord.”

My father’s eyes blazed with fury, and he wiped the droplets of water that had dribbled down his chin away with the back of his hand. “My house doesn’t have mildew, I’ll thank you very much.”

“As you say.” Azriel returned to my side, sitting down and resting a hand on his knee. “Now, where were you? Your daughter, my bride, my father falling in love? Please, continue.”

Please say that is a lie. Please. Please.I repeated the hopeless thought over and over in my head, sure my father was about to tell me that there was no truth to it, that Azriel had simply misunderstood. My father was about to tell me that he would have never given me over to Acton unless he’d had no choice.

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