Page 72 of King of Ashes

Something passes between them, a look loaded with meaning I can't quite decipher. Hampton recovers quickly, his expression smoothing into practiced neutrality.

"She's just a child," he says evenly. "Innocent in all this."

"Like my brothers were innocent?" I counter.

"Phoenix, whatever you think of us, Brigit is precious to this family. To Keira especially."

I recall the girl in the kitchen that night, her defiant eyes so reminiscent of someone else's. The way Keira hovers protectively whenever Brigit is mentioned. The strange secrecy surrounding her presence in the house.

"Who is she really?" I ask, the question slipping out before I can stop it.

Hampton's face hardens. "Our god-daughter. Nothing more."

But there's something in his eyes, a flicker of panic, quickly suppressed, that tells me he's lying. And suddenly, I'm certain that Brigit is far more significant than they're admitting.

"We'll see," I say quietly, filing away this reaction for further consideration. "Until the wedding, then."

I climb the stairs from the basement, Hampton's cryptic words about Brigit echoing in my mind. Something about their reaction doesn't sit right. The flash of panic in his eyes, Lana's unusual concern. There's more to the girl's story than a simple god-daughter relationship.

In the main living room, my brothers wait with their wives. The sight of them together, happy, united, sends a pang through my chest I refuse to acknowledge. There’s one person missing.

“Where’s Keira?”

“She went to her room,” Lucy says, her eyes staring at me like a mother who’s disappointed in her child.

“Is she okay?” I ask.

“Would you care if she?—”

“Lucy.” Flint gives her hand a squeeze to stop her, but the amusement in his expression tells he me he likes how outspoken his wife is.

She catches herself. “I like her, Phoenix. We all do.”

Jenna and Hannah nod in agreement.

“I won’t be sent to spy on her again.”

“Did you learn anything that would protect the family?” I ask, highlighting family. This isn’t just me I’m looking out for but their husbands as well. I suspect they don’t know yet that we were nearly killed.

"She's not seeing anyone, Phoenix," Hannah says gently. "She never has. Not since you."

I blink, processing her words. "What?"

"She told us everything," Jenna adds. "How you two fell in love that summer. How she thought you died in the fire. How she's spent the last decade pushing away every suitor her parents found."

"Because she never got over you," Lucy finishes.

A strange sensation washes over me. Relief, pure and unexpected, floods through my veins. The tightness in my chest loosens fractionally. No lover. No betrayal in that sense. Just Keira, waiting all these years for a ghost.

"That's impossible," I say, but the conviction has drained from my voice.

Ash exchanges a look with Blaise. "Is it? You've been looking for evidence of her betrayal since we arrived. Found any?"

I haven't. Not since the night I found her skulking through the house.

"She loved you," Hannah says softly. "Maybe still does, despite everything."

“Well, I don’t know about that,” Lucy says, disdain still lacing her tone. “But she could have loved you if you hadn’t been such?—”