Page 284 of Night's Fall
ButIwas doubly angry, because the negotiations with this female were complete.Weeksago, she’d signed what she needed to sign to be kept quiet, and she’d been givenTimothee’sentire yearly allowance, which was three and a half million marks of credit.
“Are you going to do anything with her?”Iasked.
He shrugged. “There’snothing we can do.Ifwe confront her with it, or renege on the agreement, she can shareRol’sinvolvement widely.”
NowIwas angrier.
“So you’re forced in the position of having to protectErrol.”
Aleksei said nothing, but his eyes did.Aflash of purple shot through the night sky of them.
“As infuriating as this is,”Ibegan, “the moreIhear of the width and breadth of his treachery, the moreIthinkErrolneeds some serious help.Imean, what he did with us…nothing more needs to be said.Butwhat’s the purpose of doing that?”
“We asked the same thing.Hedidn’t considerI’ddo whatIdid and assume my place at the head of the family.OnethingErrolis adept at is observation.Heknew that wasn’t somethingIwanted.Instead, he thoughtMom, and evenDad, would consider this asTimgoing too far, and they would do whatIdid.Eitherway, he got what he wanted.”
“Are you going to liftTimothee’spunishment?”
“I’m considering it.Thoughhe’ll have to avail himself ofPalaceresources until his allowance is reinstated a year from when the payment was made to her.Hemay have been set up, but he played his part in it, and it was far from good.”
“True,”Imumbled.
“Darling,Iwant to go over one more thing before we sleep.”
I focused on him, not a huge fan of his new tone.
“Your father—” he began.
I sifted my fingers into the hair on both sides of his head to stop him from speaking and said, “Let’sdiscuss this later.It’sbeen a lot today, but we’re back, the cats are good,Ilove what your dad did forAntheme, and we have a big day tomorrow.”
“This has to be said,Laura.Now.”
Ugh.
“What?”Iasked.
“It isn’t lost on me that a child, no matter the age, would want to understand the behaviors of their parents.Especiallyif they had a detrimental effect on your childhood.”
“Okay,”Isaid when he stopped speaking.
“And you might come to some understanding of his.BecauseIalso know that a parent is a parent, there is a yearning for them to be that, again, no matter your age.Andit’s my experience, you never stop wanting them to be a good one.”
Yes, that was his experience.
And fortunately for him, his did.
Mine?
We’d have to see.
Though,Iwas sensingMomwas a lost cause.
“You’re saying this because…?”Iprompted.
“Because, again, you might come to a point where, what you learn, how he explains, how he behaves with you, you forgive him.Butyou must know,Iwill not.Notever.”
Oh boy.
“It’s your life,” he continued. “Andyour choice who to welcome into your life.Buthe will never be welcomed into mine.Andwhen we have children, we’ll need to have another discussion.”
