Page 279 of Affair

“Yes, you know. Carry on our family name. You are, after all, the only Seville left. I need an heir to the dukedom, and that’s you. Shouldn’t you be creating one of your own in case something happens to you?”

Poe sighed.

“I’m gay, Father. I’m not creating anything,” he stated. “I have my work, and…”

His father cut him off.

“You have to come back, Poe. We’re not faring well. Your duty is to this family. Your duty is to carry on as a Duke and do what you need to do.”

Yeah, he didn’t like this at all.

“I don’t want to be a Duke, Father. I want to be Poe. He helps soldiers find their way back.”

He laughed.

“My son, you’re a Duke now. With your mother and I dead, you’re the last Seville. I had no brothers, and your mother has no siblings. Hemmingway died, and you’re all that’s left. You have to come home. You have to do what you have to do. We raised you better than that.”

Poe didn’t want to go home.

The demons that chased him lived there. He’d never fit in when he was there, and he’d never fit in now.

“You raised me to be strong and independent. So, I’ve met someone, and I love him.”

His mother stepped around the corner.

“Oh, not this nonsense again, Poe,” she stated. “You’re such a huge disappointment to us. You have one job now, and that’s to handle the estate, and deal with being a Duke, but instead you want these fanciful fantasies of love. A man will never love you like a woman will. It’s time you stopped this.”

“Mother!” he said, horrified by what she just said to him. Oh, he knew she thought it, but to hear her say it…

It hurt.

She moved closer.

“Come back, and do what you need to do. You’re a Duke now. The second we died, this all became your problem. As a Seville, you have a duty to your country and us.YOU OWE US.”

Poe stood there.

He’d never felt this alone, and ashamed of himself. He’d left England because he didn’t want to disappoint his father, and here he was, disappointing them both.

“We gave you an education—the best one, too. We gave you money to supply your fanciful dreams of being an American. Now, you pack your things, and come back, or else,” his mother stated.

Poe was curious.

“Or else what?”

Both of them changed. Their faces were marred, and there were bullet holes in his father. His mother bled from her mouth as she spoke, and moved toward him in a sickly motion.

They were dead.

Very dead.

“Or else we’ll haunt you for the rest of your life and your dreams. The good son died, and the disappointing one needs to do his duty. Hemmingway died being a hero. You’re definitely not Hemmingway, but you’ll have to do.”

When they grabbed him, he felt fingers digging into his flesh, and the madness in their cold, dead eyes.

And that’s when he screamed for help.

Gamble had been taking care of fishing for some food, and when he heard the scream, he raced back to Poe’s side, and touched him on the arm.