Chapter 10
I did not kill my mother.
That disappointed some men.
I saw it in their faces when I gathered the senior Warren captains.
They expected blood because blood would make the story easy.
Boss discovers betrayal.
Boss punishes betrayer.
Order restored.
No.
The problem was the order itself.
I played Sarah’s recording.
Then Rafe repeated Dean’s account.
No embellishment.
No dramatic accusations.
Just what happened.
Margaret sat at the end of the long workshop table.
She looked at the old captains one by one.
Some could not meet her eyes.
Interesting.
“You knew about the Nursery Circle,” I said.
Three men admitted it.
Two called it informal concern.
I almost smiled.
“What did you concern yourselves with?”
Silence.
One finally answered.
“Keeping you close.”
There.
“You used Emily.”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“We protected her.”
“How?”
He shifted.
“We made sure you understood the risks of pulling away.”
I nodded.
“By making every risk sound bigger when I wanted distance.”
Silence.
Margaret spoke.
“You were the head of this family. You couldn’t become a carpenter in the woods because Sarah wanted normal.”
I looked at my work shirt.
Sawdust on the cuffs.
“She never asked me to become normal.”
My voice stayed calm.
“She asked me to become reachable.”
That landed.
My father taught me power meant everybody could reach you except the people closest to you.
Sarah tried to reverse that.
My mother considered it weakness.
I removed Margaret from every family decision.
Every household.
Every crew.
Every access point to Emily.
Then the Nursery Circle disappeared with her.
Three captains lost command.
Two left voluntarily.
Rafe stayed.
With conditions.
He would no longer decide what truths I could handle.
Margaret laughed bitterly.
“You’ll destroy what your father built.”
I looked at her.
“No.”
May you like
I glanced toward Sarah’s wooden swallow.
“I’m destroying what killed everything he claimed to build it for.”
