40. Neco

F uck my father. I needed his help, but I had conditions. He could take anything he wanted from me, but he was leaving Rowena out of it. If Momma or Rowena needed him again, he'd take a second payment from me. He was never getting his hands anywhere near my baby sister.

No one in Guttertown wanted an Argent kid to have to go to their father for anything. I knew the guys were going to try to talk me out of it, so I left. I didn't know why they were so terrified that Lance had already gone.

I might have complicated feelings towards Lance Argent, but he'd be fine. He was pretty scrawny, but he was fast and could handle himself in a fight. Nestran wasn't at war. The Barons were looking for any excuse to wipe out the shifters, but the shifters weren't taking the bait. The rock from Idric Island near the Jagged Key Isles neutralized their magic and everyone knew that.

The chances of us going to war during my lifetime were slim. Lance was used to dealing with drunk patrons at the tavern. That would be the worst he would be dealing with when he got conscripted. He'd be fine. I didn't know why everyone looked like they were about to shit their pants that he already left.

I'd already sent a pigeon ahead with a message I was asking for an audience. Lance would have done the same. I figured he had a head start and that I'd be waiting for him to get done, but he was sitting on a bench in the hallway of the palace when I got there.

This place was fancy as fuck and it just pissed me off. I knew the king and his daughter were literally powerless against the Barons, but did they know a few miles away in Guttertown, we didn't even have the books I could see carelessly placed on a table and forgotten?

There were portraits all over the walls of long dead people. If someone in your family died before you were born, you were fucked when it came to knowing what they looked like. You just had to form a picture in your head from descriptions the people who knew them gave you.

Someone went bustling by me with a tray of food. Did they know people went hungry outside these walls? We were basically just trying to survive, and they had people cooking for them and bringing it to them on silver platters. It was fucked up.

And there was no place to sit except next to Lance Argent so I just leaned against the wall and crossed my arms. I wanted to check on Momma, but I was going to have to wait my turn and Lance got here first.

"First of all, fuck you," Lance said. That was basically what he said every time he saw me. "Secondly, please tell me you aren't here because Theda is as bad off as Mom."

I didn't get a chance to answer. What were the odds Momma and Caitrin got the same illness and took a turn at the same time? It was like the gods were fucking with me and thrusting Lance at me during the worst moment of my life. Lance made me feel weird feelings, and I didn't like it.

Someone stuck their head out and called us both in. That didn't bode well for Lance being my half-brother. What did that even say about me? I was attracted to my brother. Maybe all of this was the gods punishing me for unnatural thoughts.

When I stepped inside, there were two men. My bastard father was one of them. The other was Folcard based on the crest on his chest. He was the worst out of all the Barons. He could be here to seal my fate because he bossed the other Barons around or…

"Which one of you is Lance?" he sneered.

"I am."

"What a disappointment. I didn't expect any son of mine to be so foppish. Must be an issue with the bitch."

Oh, thank the gods. Lance wasn't my brother. This changed everything.

I grabbed the back of Lance's shirt just in case he decided to beat the shit out of his father Guttertown style. One thing Lance and I always had in common was that our triggers were our mothers. Lance hardly ever brawled unless someone insulted his mom.

A pretty man might mean something in Folcard's world, but in Guttertown, that man could still win in a fight with anyone else in Nestran. The only one of Folcard's men I wouldn't bet against Lance in a brawl was Autar, and he didn't count. He was Guttertown born and bred.

Lance managed to keep his temper. He looked his father dead in the eye and explained exactly what I'd been thinking.

"That's not necessary. We've had both of you fall into our laps minutes apart and we're not looking for men for the military. We'll give your mother the treatment if you can complete a task we set out for you. You can pay us back by continuing to do it. It won't be military service this time."

I didn't like the sound of that. Not for me and not for Lance. It had been military service for the men and the brothel for the woman for decades. I didn't do well with change on a normal day. My father and Folcard throwing a wrench into how things were always done when lives were on the line and I didn't have to avoid Lance anymore?

Hated it.

"Anyway, The Ghoul and the Blight have been wreaking havoc among the people. It's given us the most delicious way to handle this," Folcard said.

I didn't think I could hate this any more than I already did, but yup, it was official.

My mood that Lance Argent wasn't my half-brother was officially ruined.