Page 77 of Wolf's Bane
The sky outside the window darkened, and the wind picked up speed. Soon rain would pelt the glass.
“He’s dangerous. His entire line is tainted. Your mother knew. She told me to send him away, but I owed a debt to Maksim. He’s the reason she’s gone. He cost me my Amalie,” Godwin said.
Green curtains framing the open window snapped in the breeze.
“Mama was reckless.”
“Do not speak ill of your mother.”
“No. I’m tired of pretending that she was perfect in every way. I love Mama very much, but you know she was reckless. The accident was only remarkable in that she succeeded in killing herself.” Amalie had minor accidents in her workshop regularly. No one thought anything of the flickering lights or the smell of smoke.
Godwin clenched his hand, then drove it into the wall. Solenne jumped.
“He was there! He was there, and he did nothing to help her. I should have slit that mongrel’s throat when I found him and cleansed the earth of one more beast.”
Lightning flickered across the sky, followed by the rumble of thunder. The hair on the back of her neck and arms stood on end. She had never heard her father speak with such hatred in his voice.
“He was dangerous then, and he’s dangerous now. Don’t you see? He broke your wrist.”
Solenne unconsciously rubbed the fractured wrist. She and Alek had been sparring. He was taller and stronger than her and didn’t mean to hurt her. “It was an accident,” she said.
“No. I saw his eyes. The beast peered out that day. He slipped and lost control. That’s why I sent him away.”
“Then why did you allow him to come back if he’s so dangerous?”
A shrewd looked passed over her father’s face. “I’ll admit, it is useful having access to someone with his abilities. Vile, but useful. His grandfather, who had the same affliction, was an unparalleled hunter.”
“His grandfather had the same affliction?”
“He didn’t tell you? My, my. What other secrets has dear Aleksandar been keeping from you?”
Thunder clapped, louder.
“Do not twist this around. You knew what he was when he entered the house. Did you know I was his anchor?” She did not pause for him to answer. “You suspected. What did you think would happen?”
“That you would behave with dignity and decorum,” Godwin snapped. “I couldn’t expect Alek to restrain him, but I expected my daughter to know her place. It’s not too late. I can persuade Chambers to take you back, even in your soiled state.”
Lightning flashed, and thunder boomed, deafeningly loud. Icy rain came in sideways through the window.
She hated her father at that moment. Godwin had been selfish in the years since Mama passed. She excused it as part of his grief. She had never thought him to be so calculating and mean-spirited, and all the more fool her.
“Marry me off and keep Alek on a leash like a dog. What a deplorable scheme,” she said.
“Do as I say, for once in your wretched life. Chambers—”
“Will never take me back because he ended it. Him!” she shouted, voice nearly drowned out by the rain. “Close the damn window before the carpets are ruined. That’s another thing we can’t afford.”
“I am your father. Do not speak to me in that manner,” he retorted, but still closed the window.
She rubbed the bridge of her nose, exhausted. Her father’s argument was nonsensical and boiled down to demanding her to obey out of filial loyalty. She found herself hard pressed for such feelings. “If you wanted to marry me off, why keep me here in Boxon? Why have I not been sent to Founding for the season?” Charlotte had gone often enough and always invited her.
“Dresses and parties? With what money? I needed you here.”
The dissonance of his demands infuriated her. Marry well, but never leave his side.
He wanted obedience, pure and simple. He controlled every aspect of her life, and Solenne understood that she would never be free of him as long as she lived under his roof.
“The harder you try to control me and Luis, the more we’ll fight. Eventually, you will lose us.”
