Chapter Nine
Vesper was halfway down the Street of the Merchants, where the jeweler stalls were located, when McCloud caught up to her.
“Where are you going?” he demanded, reaching out to grab her arm. “You are not leaving until you and I discuss what has happened.”
In tears, Vesper yanked her arm from her father’s grasp. Standing in the middle of the street as they were, she didn’t care who saw them. So much of what they’d tried to keep private had come out, so there was no privacy left to be had.
No pride left to salvage.
“There is nothing to discuss,” she hissed.
“Your evil has finally caught up with you. I am glad Val knows; glad, do you hear? I am going to return to Eynsford and pretend I do not have a father and a brother who murder and steal. I am going to forget about everything over the past few weeks and if you do not leave me alone, I will tell Lord Eynsford about you. I will tell him what a despicable creature you are.”
McCloud had his entire world rocked that morning and was in no mood for his daughter’s dramatics. Reaching out, he grabbed her by both arms now so she couldn’t get away.
“Listen to me, you foolish wench,” he muttered.
“Regardless of what you told Val, he has sent me after you. Do you know what the means? It means that he still cares for you. It is very possible that he will forgive you. I will not let you ruin your life because you hate me. If Val will marry you, then so be it. I will not see you again. But do not run from a man who still wants you.”
Vesper was wrought with such anger and grief that she could hardly hear her father’s words.
“Damn you,” she snarled, trying to pull her arms free. “Damn you for coming back into my life with your schemes and horrors. Why would you do this to me? I was happy at Eynsford; I had respect and a good position. And you came and ruined it all! I shall never forgive you!”
McCloud was having a time keeping his grip on her. Vesper was strong for a woman, that strength now fed by her anger at him.
“I do not care if you do not forgive me,” he said.
“But if you want to salvage your life and not live with regrets for always, then think about what I have just told you – Val still cares for you. I believe he will forgive you. You had no role in what has happened and he will understand that with time. Are you going to throw that all away in a fit?”
His words were starting to sink in. Vesper’s struggles lessened but she wouldn’t look at her father.
The sight of him sickened her. She was convinced that everything was ruined and her only thought was to leave this place, to run back to the safety of Eynsford.
Perhaps there, she would forget about the dark-haired, green-eyed god that was Val de Nerra.
Perhaps in time, she could convince herself that he had been a dream and nothing more.
But she was in such agony at the moment that it was difficult to think clearly.
“I do not understand how he could forgive such a thing,” she said. “He discovered that which you were attempting to keep from him. And my brother… when you came to Eynsford, you left him alone. Did you not think he would wander and strike again? Did that not occur to you?”
McCloud sighed heavily, with great emotion. “What was I to do?” he asked. “Bring him with me? Mat does not function well outside of his world at Durley. He would have been a miserable fit of a man. I had no choice to leave him behind when I set out for Eynsford.”
“You should have caged him!” Vesper shouted. “Did you hear what they were calling him, Papa? The Angel of Death. Did you know that? Did you know what terrible things he was called?”
McCloud was struggling to keep above the guilt and regret that was grasping at him. “I heard,” he muttered. “I knew. But I will be truthful – I did not expect to find him in town this day. Even when the mob gathered, it did not occur to me that it was for him.”
Vesper was beside herself with frustration.
All of it was too much to take for a young woman who’d had so little excitement in her life.
“If you did not restrain him before you left, then you should have known he would leave,” she said.
“Now he has killed again? All of that blood he has spilled is on your conscience, Papa. It is your soul these deeds have stained.”
McCloud knew that. He was a condemned man and he had resigned himself to that long ago.
“It is as you say,” he said. “There is no use speaking on what has already been done. I cannot change anything. What matters now is what the future will bring. You must return to Val… reconcile with him. He is a good man, Vesper. He is everything I am not. Go back to him now and I shall leave you alone. You will not see me again.”
Vesper considered that. She genuinely did not want to see her father again, not after the havoc he’d brought to her life in just the short time they’d been reunited.
Maybe he was right; maybe there was the possibility that Val would forgive her for not having told him what she knew.
Was he worth the attempt? With every breath she drew, she believed he was.
Perhaps her father was right for once.
“Very well,” she said, taking a deep breath and endeavoring to calm herself. “I will return to Val to see if anything can be salvaged. But you will keep your word – return to Durley and stay there. Do not speak to me or contact me. I do not ever wish to see you again.”
McCloud was grieved to hear those words but he knew it was for the best. “You will not, I swear it,” he said, depressed. “But allow me to return with you to see to your brother, at least. I must see what has become of him.”
“You know what has become of him.”
“Val promised me he would see to him. He will spare your brother, I know it.”
Vesper didn’t say a word. With a lingering glance at her father, one full of disgust, she turned and headed back the way she had come, back to the square where hundreds of people were still milling about.
The crowd hadn’t disbursed but it had grown eerily quiet. Vesper skirted the group, straining to catch a glimpse of Val where she last saw him, over on the north side of the square. It seemed very densely packed over on that side as people crowded in to see the murderer who had been captured.
The Angel of Death she’d heard the people call her brother.
She was grateful that no one knew who she was as she moved through the crowd lest she be attacked for being related to the murderer they were all so fearful of.
It would be great irony for her to be caught up in her foolish brother’s punishment.
The closer she drew to the last place she saw Val, the more her stomach twisted into knots.
She began to second guess herself, wondering if this was a wise thing to do.
Did her father tell her the truth when he said that Val was still concerned for her even after what had happened?
Or was it a lie designed to manipulate her?
She didn’t want to face Val only to be condemned.
She’d run away from him for a reason – so she wouldn’t have to face him.
Was it cowardly of her? It was. But she didn’t care.
Better a coward than to see hate in Val’s eyes when he looked at her.
Vesper must have slowed her pace when her indecision began to overwhelm her because McCloud grasped her by the arm, pulling her through the crowd, forcing her into Val’s presence.
When they finally entered a dense portion of the mob, McCloud began pushing people out of the way, dragging his daughter behind him.
Soon enough, they were through the thick of it but they ran headlong into St. Lo’s hired men.
They were kept back just as the crowd was, away from the prisoner and the scene beyond.
McCloud could see Val standing several feet away.
“De Nerra!” he shouted over the crowd.
Val’s head snapped in his direction and he caught sight of McCloud and Vesper at the edge of the crowd. Leaving St. Lo, he quickly made his way over to them, telling St. Lo’s men to let them through. McCloud had a tight grip on Vesper as he pulled her with him.
“I found her,” he declared the obvious. “She did not want to come but I told her that she must.”
Val’s gaze was on Vesper. Her head was down and she was clearly reluctant, even as her father dragged her along.
“Thank you,” he said to McCloud. Seeing that Vesper was pulling against her father, or digging her heels in at the very least, he spoke softly and calmly to her.
“Vesper, I will tell your father to release you if you promise not to run. Will you do that? Will you promise to remain?”
Vesper couldn’t even look at him; guilt was consuming her, but she managed to nod. “Aye.”
Her tone was barely above a whisper. Val spoke to McCloud. “Release her, if you will.”
McCloud did so against his better judgement.
He still wasn’t entirely sure Vesper would keep her promise.
He waited a few seconds for her to start running again but she didn’t.
She remained rooted to the spot, her head lowered in a gesture reminiscent of a beaten dog.
But that was as much concern as McCloud could spare.
He began looking around for his son, his primary concern at the moment.
“Where is Mat?” he asked eagerly. “Did they take him away?”
Val knew his question would come and he thought he could muster some pity for McCloud, but he couldn’t. He had absolutely no pity for a man who would knowingly get himself into such a predicament and allow a son to murder unimpeded. He wasn’t even tactful in his reply.
“Do you know what Infangenethef is?” he asked.
McCloud hesitated before shaking his head. “Nay.”
“It means that I have the authority to render judgement over any and all crime committed within my jurisdiction.”
McCloud knew this had to do with his son. “I know, Val. I know that you must punish my son for what he has done. Where is he?”