Twin Curse(33)

He didn't need Mianna appearing at the door to convince him to put on  his commanding act. "I said, let's go through to the kitchen. I wouldn't  mind a few of those pancakes myself."

He received another glare for his words, but Brianna seemed to be aware  of her twin's presence as well. "Of course," she said through gritted  teeth.

Her twin disappeared and Brianna turned and walked through to the  kitchen. Lyall followed her, suddenly hungry to see the scene. Brianna  had seen his family life, quiet and reserved as it was, now he would see  hers.

A red checked cloth covered the table and a bunch of daisies sat in the  centre next to a plate piled high with steaming pancakes. Lyall's heart  constricted at Terion, sitting at the opposite end of the table, holding  out a fork full of pancake for one of the little twins, who had her  eyes squeezed shut, and her mouth open impossibly wide.         

     



 

The other little girl, trapped by her high chair, held out her arms to Brianna. "Mama!" she said imperiously.

Brianna shot a worried look at him and he nodded to her. She skirted  around the table and picked up the toddler. "Shh, sweetheart."

"I weed more pantakes," the tiny voice said. "And I toodn't reach them."

She put her thumb in her mouth and sucked it, looking over at him  curiously. Unlike her elders, she wasn't afraid and he found the intense  stare a little disconcerting.

And she wasn't the only one. Terion had noticed him now and was staring  at him with a mixture of fear and disgust. Standing at the stove,  Mianna's glare wasn't much different, reminding him that he wasn't here  to meet Brianna's family, he was here to interrogate them.

With that thought in mind, he ignored Brianna settling the child back  into her chair and spreading her pancake with jam, and sat in the empty  seat at the opposite end of the table, helping himself to several  pancakes.

To his surprise, after a moment's hesitation, Mianna brought him a plate  and knife. "Would you like some orange juice?" Her voice was quiet,  uncertain, and her kindness threw him for a moment. "Yes, please," he  managed, knowing his voice was far too soft for the image he was  presenting, but unable to help himself.

Brianna threw him a warning glare, and he stared down at his pancakes,  pretending he needed to concentrate to spread the thick butter and jam.

It would be easy to be at home here. Easy to confess that he had no wish  to conquer this village, or hurt its inhabitants, and that he just  wanted to be a part of Brianna's life.

Except he had promised her he wouldn't.

He ate half a pancake, but it suddenly tasted like sawdust, clogging his  throat. He stood up abruptly, the sound of the chair scraping on the  floor causing everyone to stare at him. "I don't have time for this," he  growled. "We have work to do. I assume you keep records of the village,  Brianna? Show them to me."

Brianna glared at him, her expression so similar to the tiny girl she  stood over that it softened his heart just a little. She pointedly  ignored him and cut the pancake in front of the toddler carefully into  quarters. "There you are. I need to help the nasty man for a minute.  Terion will cut your next pancake for you."

"But Daddy gets it wong."

The disappointment in the tiny voice wrung an unwilling smile of  sympathy from Lyall. "Your aunt will be back in a few moments to cut  your pancake. I only need her to show me where the records are," he  offered.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mianna's mouth open, as if she was about to say something, but Brianna's glare stopped her.

Lyall's attention though, was caught by the little girl, who stared at  him solemnly, slowly reaching for the first piece of pancake with her  jammy fist. She nodded her head once. "Dat good," she pronounced, then  turned all her attention to the pancakes in front of her.

Brianna hurried around the table and all but pushed him out of the room and into the hallway.

"Maybe next time, you can give people a chance to finish breakfast  before you show up and start making their lives miserable," she said  acidly.

He reached out and cupped her cheek, feeling the inevitable spark that  flared between them. "I'm not here to make your life miserable, Anna,"  he said softly.

He felt her tremble under his hand, and she swayed towards him just a  little. Then she shook herself and stepped back. "Don't," she said  roughly. "Don't try to pretend this is anything other than what it  is-you invading my village and frightening everyone."

Before he could say another word, she turned away and opened the door  across the hall, leading into the study he had been in last night. He  watched her cross to a shelf, where she pulled down the first book in a  row of leather bound tomes. "These are the village records. You won't  find much in them, but they're all here. Enjoy yourself."

Lyall opened his mouth. There was so much he wanted to say to her, so  much he wanted to hear her say to him, but her glare stopped him. She  thumped the book down on the desk, making it shake. "I'll be in the  kitchen if you need me."

Lyall could only nod. What point was there in speaking? She obviously  wasn't ready to listen. So after she slammed the door behind her, he  heaved a sigh, sat down at the desk and opened the first page of the  book in front of him.

It didn't take him long to realise that the books contained little of  note. Harvest records, building registers, orders from the city,  relations with nearby villages, and the usual records of births and  marriages. He flipped to the front of the book, suddenly curious.  Mianna's marriage was recorded as Brianna had said, two years ago, on  the date that he and Brianna had first slept together. He was pleased to  see that it was noted at five in the evening, at least an hour after  his encounter with Brianna.         

     



 

He was not pleased to see Brianna's name scrawled next to Mianna's.  Obviously it had been done after the fact, but it still irked him. If  he'd had a knife, he would have scraped it off.

Since he didn't, he flicked to the next page, not wanting to look at any  evidence that suggested Brianna was married to that man.

And saw Brianna's name, not an afterthought this time, listed above the  name Lylis, right next to Mianna above Kylis. Terion's name stood  between them, linked to both on either side, leaving a sick feeling in  the pit of Lyall's stomach.

His heart froze. Brianna had lied. She had slept with her sister's husband. Her husband as well, in the eyes of the village.

"Brianna!" he roared, standing up and thumping the desk with both fists.  It didn't help reduce the anger and jealousy surging through him one  little bit. When the door didn't immediately open, he roared again,  "Brianna!"

The door flew open, and she glared at him. "Stop it, you're scaring the babies."

"Which one is yours?" he demanded. "How dare you lie to me and say you didn't sleep with him?"

Brianna gave one glance at the book open on the desk in front of him and  stepped inside, closing the door behind her softly. "Keep your voice  down," she said, more quietly this time. "Do you want everyone to think  you sound like a jealous husband?"

He took two steps around the desk and gripped her shoulders, not even  deterred by her wince. "Why did you tell me you didn't sleep with him?"  His voice was rough, but he did attempt to keep it to a level that  wouldn't leave the room.

"Because I wasn't sure what you would do if I didn't," Brianna said honestly.

His heart constricted at her words, and for a moment he couldn't see for the red haze in front of his eyes.

"And because it was the truth, I didn't."

It took a few more moments for her second quiet sentence to penetrate  his consciousness. The constriction around his heart eased a little.  Then the implication of her words hit him. "Then …  Lylis," the name was  strange on his tongue, though it shouldn't be, it was so close to his  own name, "she's … "

"Yours," Brianna said with a soft sigh. Her shoulders slumped under his  hands. Tears started in her eyes. "I wanted to tell you, Lyall, but you  were so far away, and I couldn't leave Mianna. I thought you'd come, but  you didn't. And then when you did … "

And when he did, he'd marched into her village as though he owned it. He  released her shoulders and pulled her close. "I'm sorry," he said into  her hair. "I wanted to find you, searching every village for the mages  has only been made bearable by the fact that I could search for you too.  Syrid and Elsian wouldn't tell me where you had gone, so I had no idea  where to start. If I had known, I would have been here earlier, I  promise."

A child. His child. He was a father.

The thought was both terrifying and exhilarating. And yet, he had missed  so much of his daughter's childhood already. And if he didn't convince  Brianna otherwise, he might not get a chance to make it up to her.