Something smashed violently to the floor; Cassidy flinched as the remains of a teacup and saucer scattered across the polished wood beneath the table. Braden’s arm snapped back to his side; he held himself rigid, yet Cassidy could see his trembling.
“You weren’t afraid,” he said. “Yet this is the second time you could have died while in my charge.” His fist flexed, open and closed, open and closed, “I am responsible.”
His voice was laced with self-disgust, and she knew he was ashamed. Ashamed because he thought he should have protected her and made everyone else do exactly as he wished and won a battle against treacherous enemies, all without any help.
He thought he should be perfect. Never make mistakes. Never need anyone or anything.
“You were the one who was hurt,” she said. “Do you think the rest of us would just stand by and watch while you—”
He swung about. “It was a challenge,” he said. “Your interference was acceptable only because Stefan was first to break the rules.”
“So if they hadn’t cheated, the others would have let Stefan kill you?”
“If I was too weak to defeat him. If I proved myself unfit. It is our way.”
“The loup-garou way,” she said, hearing the voice that came from that angry new part of herself.
He turned his head aside sharply. “They had the right to challenge me for leadership and forfeited it. They are disgraced, and their challenge is void. But the Cause has suffered—”
“The Cause,” she said. She sat down on the cool floor, among the shards of china cup and saucer. “It only seems to bring sadness. To everyone.” She picked up a sliver of saucer and turned it in her fingers. “I know why the Russians challenged you. When you sent us out to the garden, Stefan’s cousin Tasya came to me. She told me everything.” Braden started. “She wasn’t part of what they were planning, but she needed to talk to someone. She chose me. I know that the fight was about your wife—Milena, their sister.”
“And what else did you learn?”
“That the marriage was arranged by your grandfather. Milena was beautiful, and everyone at Greyburn loved her. Rowena called her an angel.”
“Rowena,” he said, a catch in his voice.
“Tasya didn’t talk much about it. She only said that Milena wasn’t completely happy here. And Milena’s brothers blamed you for her accident.” She swallowed. “How did she die?”
“She fell,” he said. “During a storm.”
“I’m sorry. It must have been awful for you.”
He said nothing. Cassidy imagined his grief, losing Milena and then being blamed for her accident. Another thing he couldn’t control. But there’d been at least one thing he could have changed.
“Tasya told me that you were supposed to have children, but it wasn’t until you’d been married for years that she—” Cassidy flushed, caught in a whirlwind of emotion at the thought of Braden with another woman, making children. “Tasya told me about your son.”
“My… son?” he whispered.
“Mikhail. The one you sent away.”
Braden stepped back until his shoulders touched the window. His face was paper white. He didn’t speak again for a long, long time.
“It’s true, then,” Cassidy said. “I didn’t want to believe it. Why, Braden?” The sliver of broken saucer cut into her hand. “How could you send your own child away?”
He stared into emptiness. “I could not raise him… after Milena was gone.”
Milena’s portrait flashed into Cassidy’s mind. Had his grief been so unspeakable that he couldn’t bear to have a constant reminder of his loss? But that was no excuse for making the boy an orphan: No one should do that on purpose.
“So you sent him to Milena’s family, in Russia—”
He twitched as if in shock. “I did not send him to Russia. I arranged a decent home for him, in Scotland—”
“But he’s living with Stefan’s family. Tasya takes care of him. She came to warn you, but she was afraid of Stefan.”
Braden’s reaction hit her like a physical blow. “I sent him to Scotland. It’s impossible—”
“He’s there—and Tasya says he’s in trouble.” The shard of saucer dropped from her hand, and she clenched her fingers to stop the bleeding. “I know that Stefan and Fedor are bad people. I felt a wrongness in Stefan, even before he tried to kill you. I knew he wanted to hurt you.” She grimaced at the memory. “Tasya called them evil. She told me… some of the things they do on their estate in Russia. Terrible things to the humans who live on their land. They want Mikhail to be like them. Tasya says that if Mikhail stays with them, he’ll turn out the same.”