Page 100 of The Iron Earl

He took a step closer to her, the veins on his forehead throbbing as he went to his toes to lean over her. “You don’t need to know that. Your mother wanted me to be your father. And be your father I have, for all the ingrate that you are now.”

“I doubt that. I doubt my mother wanted me to grow up in the vile household you created for me. And I would ask you to be so kind as to not bring my mother’s soul into this.” She held her feet, her spine in place, refusing to cower away at his noxious overbearingness. Her voice went hard, her words vehement. “Now tell me who my father is.”

His lips twisting in rage, Falsted’s hand lifted, ready to strike her.

Behind her, Lachlan growled.

Falsted’s look shifted to her husband and his arm stilled in midair. For eternal seconds, his forehead throbbed, blotching red as his hand swayed.

His hand dropped to his side and his head turned as he spat on the floor. Thick droplets landed on her skirts. “I don’t have to take this from an ungrateful chit like you. Not after all I’ve done for you.” He turned from Evalyn and started to stomp toward the door.

Lachlan moved quick, stepping in front of him, his hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist. “You’re not allowed to leave yet, my lord.”

“How dare you? Step aside, Dunhaven.”

Lachlan stared at him in silence, the line of his jaw flexing.

“Who is my father?” Evalyn asked, not moving from the spot she had rooted herself in.

Falsted kept his eyes trained on Lachlan. “He was no one of consequence.”

“Truly? No one of consequence?” Evalyn spun on her heel, facing him fully. “What was his given name?”

Falsted shook his head, his words sputtering. “I don’t even remember, not after all these years.”

“You don’t?” She took two steps toward her stepfather. “That is so peculiar, for you’ve been managing his estate—my estate—for years.”

“What?” Falsted’s look jerked toward her. “What lies have you been told?”

“I have only been told the truth.” Her hands went to her hips and she took a final step toward him, meeting him square on. “Edward Montclair, Viscount of Jaggerfall, owner of Swallowford lands. That is my father. I am his only heir. And you, stepfather, have used that estate for your own purposes for the last twenty years. For your own amusement. For your own sick desires.” Her lips pulled back, the words vibrating from her chest. “That ends today.”

Falsted turned fully to her, his hands lifting to grip her arms. “You have this all wrong, Evalyn. I never—”

She swatted his hands away before they made contact. “You never what? Never meant to do wrong by me? Never meant to steal every penny I was due so you could fill your own coffers? Never meant to sell me to Mr. Molson so he would then own the lands and you would still reap the rewards?” Her arms crossed over her chest and her head cocked to the side. “Never what, stepfather?”

“You little wretched ingrate.” He charged her.

She held her ground, her toes not twitching. Her resolve steel. Let him come. He could never harm her again.

His hands lifted to choke her and a breath before his long fingers reached her, a fist swung into his face, sending him flying.

He fell, sprawling out on the floor.

The fury on Lachlan’s face scared her. Scared her for the one moment it took to realize it was rage on her behalf.

He was never going to let another man harm her again. She was his. He was hers.

Swaying, her stepfather tried to lift himself up onto his hands, only to lose grip on the stones and fall back to the floor.

“Hah. Well done, Lach.” Lachlan’s grandfather hooted from his chair, a modicum of begrudging pride lighting his eyes. “Now that is doing, my boy.”

Lachlan strode past Evalyn and grabbed Falsted’s back collar. Blood splattered from her stepfather’s mouth across his cheek. With a vicious jerk, he dragged him across the room to the door. For a long held breath, Lachlan paused at the door and Evalyn feared he was about to snap her stepfather’s neck.

“You have five minutes to vacate these grounds, you despicable miscreant, or I find you and I kill you.” Lachlan lifted Falsted, pushing his forehead back as he leaned down to see him eye to eye. “And if I ever hear your name again—in connection to Evalyn, in connection to these lands, there is no place you will be able to hide from me. Take this mercy your stepdaughter is giving you and disappear.” He opened the door and with a kick and a shove, threw Falsted out.

Lachlan slammed the heavy oak planks shut, then turned back into the room. His look met Evalyn’s, the blue in his hazel eyes sparking wild streaks. Vindication. Love. Pride.

Her heart swelled so violently her ribs nearly snapped.