Ian exhaled the smoke from his cigar, and with it all memories of that time in his life. He then gave his new brother-in-law the reply he hoped would placate him. “The Commander was desperate at one time,” Ian began, “but I believe we are at an impasse with regard to that threat. He was cruel, not just to me, but to his own daughters. Once a year, I was forced as a child to listen to his hate-filled orations about how my uncle, who died during our second war for independence, had such promise, a military hero, handsome and charming, and I would never compare as an heir. As a young boy, I could handle that. But when he attacked my parents, I could take no more. He called my father a traitor to the crown because he’d fought for his new country, and my mother a w***e because she was the daugh
