“Don’t lie to me. You know Ferryman has spies everywhere. Someone saw you and told him.”
“I didn’t go there!”
“What’s the Black Bear?” King asked.
“Stay out of this,” Violet told him.
“No chance,” he said. “You come back looking like you’ve seen a ghost and then you start ranting about the Black Bear. I can’t protect you if I don’t know what’s happening.”
She glared at him. “You think you can protect me or anyone from Ferryman? You can’t. He’ll slit your throat and gut you like a fish.”
She heard the sharply indrawn hiss of air, and her gaze fell on Georgie. His mouth was open, and his brown eyes were big and round.
“I’m sorry, Georgie. I didn’t mean for you to hear that.”
Georgie wiped his eyes, trying not to cry. “Ferryman wants to hurt our new pa?”
Violet closed her eyes, and though she’d refused the chair King had brought her a moment before, she needed it now. She reached back, and he drew it behind her. Violet sank into it. Everyone was talking at once—Joshua lying about the Black Bear, Georgie crying about his pa, King saying he wasn’t in any danger and to stop wailing.
“Silence!” she said, and the room fell quiet.
She looked at each of the males in turn—Joshua with the stubborn set to his jaw, Georgie with tears in his eyes, King with—Well, he was altogether too handsome. She’d do better not to look at him.
“Georgie, take this basket upstairs and set everything on the table. Wash your hands, and we’ll be up for supper shortly.”
Food was probably the only thing that could have distracted Georgie in that moment, and it worked. She handed him the basket, and he took it then raced past the bar and into the back. She waited until she heard his feet on the steps before she glanced at King. A quick glance.
“I’ll talk to him about this idea he has of you being his pa. In the meantime, you can eat with us upstairs tonight. Go ahead.”
King folded his arms across his chest. “I think I’d rather hear whatever you’re about to say to Master Joshua.”
“I didn’t go to the Black Bear.”
King let out a snort. “Here’s a tip when you’re lying and want to be believed. Don’t talk so much. The more you claim you’re innocent, the more guilty you seem. So out with it—why did you go to the Black Bear?”
“I know why he went,” Violet said. “He went to see Lizzie.”
King’s brows went up. “This is about a girl? I’m assuming the Black Bear is a tavern. Does Lizzie work there?”
“She does,” Violet said. “She’s Ferryman’s dell, or will be soon, and Joshua thinks he can save her.”
“Icansave her, Vi! At least I have to try.”
“No, Joshua.” She stood and took his face in her hands. He was almost as tall as she was now, but still lanky and thin. “You have to stay alive for your brother and me. I can’t lose you, and if you try to cross Ferryman, he will kill you. Both of you. How is that helping Lizzie? If she’s dead?”
“Your sister has a point,” King said.
Violet looked at him with shock. She hadn’t expected him to support her.
“You can’t help this girl if you’re dead. And you have a duty to your family first and foremost. What about your sister? If you run off with Lizzie or are killed, who will care for her?”
Violet opened her mouth to say that she didn’t need anyone to care for her, especially not a thirteen-year-old boy, but she saw the look on Joshua’s face. She closed her mouth again and let King keep talking. Not for the first time, she realized that now that Joshua was growing older, he didn’t want her telling him what to do. But here was a man, a wealthy and powerful man, giving him advice. Joshua was clearly listening.
“I hadn’t thought of that,” he said. “But I…” He looked at Violet. “I care for Lizzie. I want to protect her too.”
Violet knew Joshua thought Lizzie was a pretty girl, but she hadn’t considered that he had feelings for her. She’d had soft feelings for boys when she’d been thirteen too. She’d imagined silly scenarios, where the boys asked her to marry them or revealed she was a long-lost princess they’d been searching for. Foolish childhood fantasies that she grew out of. She wanted to tell Joshua he would grow out of this foolishness for Lizzie too.
“I see,” King said, nodding as though this was all very serious. “Then we should talk more about her and what can and cannot be done to help her.”
