The Queen They Burned

Chapter Eight - Grim

The sound of the coffee mug hitting the floor echoed through the clubhouse.

For one heartbeat, nobody moved.

The broken pieces scattered across the old hardwood, dark coffee spreading

between the cracks. I stood in the office doorway, staring at Eve.

She stared back.

Her face had gone completely pale.

She had heard us.

Damn it.

I took one step towards her.

"Eve—"

She backed away.

"What did he mean?"

The question came out barely above a whisper.

I looked over my shoulder at Cal. The old biker stood behind me, his face hard and

unreadable.

"What did he mean?" she asked again, louder this time.

Dani rushed over from the common room after hearing the mug break. Her eyes

bounced between the three of us.

"What happened?"

Eve never looked away from me.

"He said I'm the rightful heir to everything."

The entire clubhouse went silent.

A couple of the brothers looked up from boarding the windows. Someone turned off

the old radio playing in the kitchen.

Every eye in the room was suddenly on us.

Cal muttered something under his breath.

I wanted to wring his neck.

"Eve..." I started carefully. "You weren't supposed to hear that."

A bitter laugh escaped her.

"I wasn't supposed to hear it?" she repeated. "I've spent twenty years not hearing

things. My father kept secrets. Your father keeps secrets. Everybody in this place keeps

looking at me like they know who I am, but nobody will tell me."

She took a shaky breath.

"Tell me I'm wrong."

I opened my mouth.

Nothing came out.

Because I couldn't.

I didn't know the truth.

I only knew that my father had recognized her.

That Cal had looked terrified.

And that a group of armed strangers had shown up at our gates calling her by name.

Eve looked at my silence and nodded slowly.

"You don't know either."

"No," I admitted.

She blinked.

The anger on her face faded, replaced by confusion.

"You don't?"

I shook my head.

"I swear to you, I don't."

For the first time since she'd arrived, I told her the truth without holding anything

back.

"I've never heard your father's name before today. I don't know why my dad knows

you. I don't know why those men were looking for you, and I sure as hell don't know

what Cal meant by that stupid comment."

Cal stepped out of the office.

"It wasn't stupid."

I rounded on him.

"Then explain it."

"I can't."

"You can't or you won't?"

His jaw tightened.

"I made a promise."

I was getting real tired of promises.

"To who?"

Before Cal could answer, another voice cut through the room.

"To me."

Everyone turned.

Silas Mercer stood at the end of the hallway.

He should have been upstairs resting. He looked exhausted, one hand gripping the

wall for support, but there was nothing weak about the way he carried himself.

Dani hurried to his side.

"Dad, you shouldn't be out of bed."

He smiled faintly.

"I've been out of bed longer than you've been alive, sweetheart."

His eyes settled on Eve.

She looked like she wanted to run.

Instead, she stood perfectly still.

Silas crossed the room slowly until he was standing in front of her.

"I'm sorry."

She frowned.

"For what?"

"For making you carry the weight of other people's mistakes."

The words seemed to hit him as hard as they hit her.

He reached out carefully, giving her every chance to step away.

When she didn't, he gently placed his hand over the silver pendant around her neck.

"I remember the day your mother put this around your neck."

The room disappeared.

At least, it felt that way.

I could hear the brothers breathing behind me.

Could hear the rain tapping against the boarded-up windows.

But all I could see was the look on Eve's face.

Hope.

Fear.

Heartbreak.

"My mother?" she whispered.

Silas nodded.

"Her name was Charlotte."

The name hung in the air.

I remembered hearing it before.

Just once.

The moment he'd seen Eve standing outside the gates.

Charlotte's girl.

Eve's eyes filled with tears.

"You knew her?"

"I did."

"Who was she?"

Silas looked down at the floor.

"A good woman."

"That's not an answer."

"No," he admitted. "It isn't."

She took a step back.

"Then stop treating me like a child and tell me the truth."

Silas looked at me.

Then at Cal.

Then around the clubhouse at the men who had followed him for decades.

"I think..." he said quietly, "I've waited long enough."

Cal's head snapped up.

"Silas."

"It's time."

"You know what that means."

"I do."

The old man turned back to Eve.

"Your father brought you here because he knew I owed you the truth. I intended to

tell you twenty years ago, but I failed your mother. I failed Thomas."

His voice cracked.

"I won't fail you too."

He held out his hand.

"The letter, Evelyn."

Without taking her eyes off him, she reached into her coat pocket and handed him

the envelope.

He handled it like it was made of glass.

The old paper was stained from the rain and bent from being dropped in the gravel,

but the writing was still clear.

To Silas Mercer. Alone.

He broke the rest of the seal and carefully unfolded the page inside.

A second sheet slid free.

Then a third.

The entire room held its breath.

Silas read the first few lines.

The color drained from his face.

"What is it?" I asked.

He didn't answer.

His eyes raced over the page.

Then he stopped.

He looked inside the envelope again.

Turned it upside down.

Shook it.

Nothing else came out.

A deep frown settled across his face.

"No..."

Cal stepped closer.

"What?"

Silas looked up slowly.

"There were supposed to be four pages."

I stared at the papers in his hand.

"There are three."

Silas's fingers tightened around the letter.

"The last page is gone."

The room erupted into confused voices.

Eve looked from me to Silas.

"What was on the last page?"

The old man didn't answer.

I stepped towards him.

"Dad."

His eyes met mine.

For the first time in my life, I saw genuine fear in the man who had taught me never

to show it.

His voice dropped to a whisper.

"The name."

"What name?"

Silas looked at Eve.

Then towards the front windows, where the darkness outside seemed to press against

the glass.

"The name of the man who betrayed her family."

The clubhouse fell silent.

A cold realization settled over me.

If the last page was missing...

Then someone had taken it.

And if someone had taken it...

The traitor wasn't just inside Iron Crown.

He had known Eve was coming all along.