Page 137 of Enchanted Heir
At first that sounded amazing and my eyes lit up, but then I remembered the talk I needed to have with my mother. “Not this time. But please offer that next time, okay?”
“Why?” he asked, his steel eyes furrowed in concern.
I took a deep breath. “Because my mother deserves to know that we figured out who killed my father. So I’m afraid it will be a very somber discussion today.” I switched my attention to Owen. “Sorry, Owen.”
Owen shook his head. “Do not even apologize.”
I winced. “I’ve been meaning to ask but have also been too afraid to. Where is Easton, anyway?”
Owen looked at Krew and neither of them spoke for a moment, as if each wanting the other to say something.
Krew finally said, “He’s in the mountain. Or close to it, I suppose. Just a less torturous area of the mountain.” Krew clenched his jaw. “And only Owen knows the location because if I know where he is, I’ll likely kill him.”
Krew had sent Easton into the mountain for me?
Krew was still looking at me. “Do you want me to come with you instead of going to the orphanage?”
I shook my head. “No. Not at all. Please go see Warrick. It’s been too long as is. Plus, with the amount of tears bound to be shed today, the fewer the people, the better.”
“Is there a way I can help?” he asked.
I shook my head and moved to look out the window. “No. Unfortunately, we both know you can’t really cheat grief.”
* * *
“Flora said your dress was exquisite,”Mother said as she poured my tea.
“It was, she really outdid herself,” I said with a shake of my head. “I got so many compliments that night.”
“I’ll be sure to tell her,” Mother said as she handed Owen a tea.
“And I don’t think I’ll ever forget Krew bringing her all the way to the castle just to design a dress for me.” I gave my head a little shake, still shocked he’d done it, and took a hesitant drink of my tea. Mother tended to like her tea scalding.
“You look a little like you haven’t been sleeping, Jorah,” my mother offered. “Everything all right at the castle?”
I set my teacup down to let it cool a little more, deciding there was no time like the present to go ahead and get this over with.
“Oh no, what happened?” My mother asked. “You look as if someone died.”
“Someone did, Mother. About five years ago.”
She stopped breathing entirely and I felt a little bad for it. But was there even a tactful way to lead into this? Likely not.
“I found out this past week who killed Father. It ended up being one of my night guards. Someone Krew trusted,” I offered. “And—” I gave my head a shake, trying to force all traces of tears in my eyes to stay put. “And it didn’t go how I always imagined it would.”
“How so?”
I reached for her hand, knowing this was difficult to bring up. For the most part, we just tried not to talk about him. Remembering all we’d had was hard. So we remembered him in our own ways, as speaking about him out loud felt too abrasive. Like taking sandpaper to my heart. “I always imagined I wanted vengeance and justice for what happened.” I paused. “And Krew was about to kill the man, so I definitely could have had that.”
My mother’s eyes went huge.
“But in the end, I knew it wouldn’t bring Father back.” I swallowed hard. “I thought it would be one of the evil Enchanted in the castle. Someone I could easily settle the score with. I didn’t once consider it could have been an Enchanted following orders and put in a situation where making poor choices was far more common than making good ones. Not that it excuses it at all, but things are not as...rigidas I assumed them to be.”
My mother gave her head a shake as if considering that.
“Father died refusing to use his bow to shoot a family off the wall who was trying to go over it,” I told her. “He wouldn’t kill our people, and for that he had to pay with his own life.”
She put a hand over her heart. “That sounds just like my Griffith.” She paused. “He hated himself for some of the things he had to do up on that wall. That was probably just one too far.”
