Guilt. Suffocating and consuming overwhelms me. “She hated you because I told her what I believed happened to our mother. My truth.”
His gaze meets mine now. “Bronywyn, I swear to you, her death is not on you. I was the one who withheld the truth. But you have to know, if there had been any other way, I would have taken it. I would have done anything to save your mother—to save you from having to lose her. And if she’d agreed to run with me, we never would have looked back.”
I want to believe him. Want so badly to understand why a man would stand idly by and let his wife be murdered. To a point, I get it. Saving the lives of your children would be a worthy enough reason, but that only leaves me with anger toward my mother.
Anger that is completely and utterly unwarranted. After all, she’d chosen to face the council over running for the rest of her life. Isn’t that exactly what we’d done by turning ourselves over?
“I don’t know if I believe you.”
He wipes his cheeks and nods. “I assumed as much.” Reaching into his jacket pocket, he withdraws a single envelope. “The letter is from your mother. She asked me to give it to you when you were ready. I believe that time is well past.” He fingers the aged paper, running his fingers over my name scrawled in elegant handwriting I never thought I’d see again. “It’s the only part of her I was able to keep,” he chokes out. “Everything else…I had to appear so disgusted that I burned it all.” He offers it to me.
After a brief hesitation, I reach up and grab the note, clutching it in my hand like it’s gold. Which, if it is truly from her…it might as well be.
“I’m staying at the Mountain Air B&B in town, under the name Emmitt Parker. You can find me there.” He stands and starts to leave.
“Wait.”
“Yes?”
“You never told me how you found me. What is that thing on your arm?”
Swallowing hard, Clarance lifts his sleeve once more. “It’s a tracking spell. Tied to my life force—and yours—so that if I ever needed to find you, I could.”
“Why? How?”
“Your blood injected directly into spelled ink. I can sever it if I ever get captured, but I needed to be able to warn you if I ever got word the council was coming for you. Which is what brought me to Billings in the first place.” Pulling his sleeve back down, he offers me a smile. “I love you, Bronywyn. Flesh and blood or not, you are my daughter. And there is no way in hell I am letting the council get their hands on you, again.”