“Good.”
Ned was unnerved by the odd, calculating smile on Amos’s face, but they finished their tea together, discussing superficial things, and then Amos let Ned back out onto the rotting staircase to find his way home to the privileged side of town.
Chapter Five
“Iheard fromAmos today,” Father said, his teeth grinding together, as he sent a piercing gaze down the length of the table. He was still dressed in his suit from business appointments earlier in the afternoon, and he was as dark and imposing as ever.
Pete wasn’t feeling well, pregnancy having worn on him that day, and was missing from the family dinner. No doubt, that was the reason Father was mentioning Da’s name at all. He had too much sensitivity for Pete’s lingering jealousy over the prior omega of the house to bring him up otherwise.
“Who’s Amos?” Eight-year-old Rodan looked interested but clueless, raising his dark eyebrows far above his chocolate-brown eyes until they disappeared beneath his mop of black curly hair. His innocent question pierced Ezer’s heart. Had he already forgotten Da? He’d just been gone a year.
“Amos is Da,” Yissen replied, his handsome, diamond-cut face blank, as though willing no emotion to show. Ezer thought Yissen, as the oldest, should have taken Da’s dismissal harder than he had, but maybe he was too stubborn to let his emotions show. At least he didn’t feign forgetting him too.
“Say Da then,” Rodan said with a shrug, digging into his broccoli.
Florentine and Shan both continued eating, though they shot each other worried glances. The middle omegas, twins, with long dark hair and nearly pearl-black eyes, were two peas in a pod, and both had sobbed when Da had left. But now they never mentioned him at all.
“No,” Father said to Rodan with the kind of coldness that always made the hairs on Ezer’s arms rise. But the hidden threat seemed to go right over little Rodan’s head, as most subtle social interactions did. “That omega is not to be referred to as anything other than Amos in this house. When Pete delivers,hewill be Da.”
Another look passed between Shan and Florentine, but there was no argument or disagreement voiced by anyone. Ezer bit his own tongue to keep from declaring his father’s command to be unfair and disrespectful to Da. He knew his father wouldn’t care.
Father’s dark eyes slid to him as though he knew what Ezer wanted to say, almost daring him to do it.
Ezer kept his mouth shut, stirring his food around his plate.
When Ezer decided it was safe to take a bite, Father spoke again. “Amos said Ezer has been visiting him.”
Ezer froze with his fork between his plate and mouth, and his hand began to tremble a little. How could Da betray him that way? He dropped the fork, his hand going to fiddle with the napkin in his lap, as he shook his head, the denial instantaneous. And the wrong choice.
“Don’t lie to me, Ezer.”
“I only went—” He stared at his father, heart galloping. “I only went because I miss him.”
“You need to get it into your head, Ezer. Amos isn’t part of our lives any longer.”
“Why?” Ezer burst out. “You made him go, but you never gave us a good reason why!”
Yissen looked ready to join Ezer’s protest but held back. He was the most beautiful of them all, but he bore a scar beneath his eye from the one time he’d challenged George. The sharp edge of their father’s ring had cut him when he’d failed to duck the backhanded slap.
As omegas, the four older boys were all smaller than their father, but sometimes Ezer wondered why they didn’t join forces to challenge him—show him what they thought of him. But all his brothers wanted his father’s money to lure good matches, so getting disinherited to make a point wouldn’t make much sense to them.
It made sense to Ezer, though.
“I don’t owe you an explanation,” his father said. “Your omega parent has been dismissed from our lives, and I have retained legal custody of all of you until you’re twenty-two or married. He has no place in your lives now.”
“Actually, I’d like to know why he went away, too,” Yissen said, shocking Ezer to the core. “Was it Pete?”
Father’s eyes narrowed so fast Yissen shoved back from the table, poised to run. “Your omega parent was not fit. End of discussion.” He turned his ire on Ezer again. “As for you, troublemaker, you aren’t to visit him again. If you miss him so terribly, make better friends with Pete.”
“Omegas aren’t interchangeable!” Ezer exclaimed. He motioned at his older brothers. “Wearen’t interchangeable.”
Yissan looked frightened now, and he hissed a low warning under his breath. But Shan and Flo lifted their chins for the first time, meeting their father’s eyes with a hint of dark defiance Ezer hadn’t imagined them capable of.
“Of course you aren’t,” Father said, sharply. “It’s clear that some of you are quite a bit better than others.” His gaze came back to Ezer with a grim look. “No more questions. Amos doesn’t want you there. He said so himself.”
“Da would never say that.” Ezer’s throat went tight.Would he?
“Well, he did. He says it isn’t safe for you to be in Roughs Neck.”
