“Well, we’re walkin’ of course,” Emilie said, her voice high-pitched and grating. “We’re doin’ a stroll and learnin’ about nature before I send them back to their studies, like ye told me to do.”
She blinked at him dumbly, but there was something else on her face. Something deep and cloying and almost deliberate that set every single one of his nerves on edge.
“I dinnae tell ye to do that,” he growled.
And still, Emilie did not flinch. The stupid expression did not waver from her face.
“Surely ye did,” Emilie blathered. “Ye told me that it was me job to teach them about the things yer people do. About the fish and the trees. And then ye told me to send them back to their tutor after I was done.”
Archer sighed, the frustrated sound bubbling up from deep within him.
“That is nae what I said,” he continued.
A bit of movement caught his eye, drawing Archer’s attention away from his wife. His twins were standing a bit off the way, both of their eyes filled with apprehension as they looked in their direction.
The expression on their faces was familiar. It was the way he used to look at his own father.
An image danced behind his eyes, transporting Archer to another time in his life. One where he was the twins’ age, staring up at his father, screaming at his mother. Only for the man to turn his fists on Archer himself.
He winced as if the punch was truly flying toward him, the anger leaving him almost entirely. A bitter sadness rose up to replaceit, one that had him dropping Emilie’s wrist so quickly he nearly threw it away.
“Go back to yer lessons,” Archer growled at the twins, but his voice lacked the rage of a moment before. “Meet Eoin in yer study room. And I daenae want to see ye again until supper.”
Aurora, who had been standing in front of her brother, slowly tucked Louis back behind her as if to protect him. The sight of it made Archer sick to his stomach.
It’s better that they think of me like this,he reminded himself.
That way, I can never get close enough to hurt them. That way, I can make sure I will never be like me faither. Their distance from me is what keeps them safe.
Both twins nodded quickly, turning to scamper across the grounds and back toward the Castle. Once they were far enough away, he knew they would no longer hear what he was saying. Archer turned his attention back to Emilie.
Her expression had shifted while he’d been paying attention to the twins. The deliberate stupidity that had been dancing in her eyes was gone entirely, and instead, she was glaring up at him now.
“Why do ye treat them like that?” she hissed. “Why do yer own bairns feel like they cannae laugh, or dance, or even be actualbairns around ye? The way they are right now, it’s nay way to live.”
Archer returned her glare, narrowing his eyes on her as her words washed over him.
“That is nae yer business,” he growled, the frustration returning and souring his stomach. “I need ye to raise them. Nae question the way that I handle them.”
“That’s the thing, though,” she argued. “It is me business. If ye want me to raise them, that means me carin’ for them. And I need to be wary of the things that scare them. And it’s clear that ye’re the one that scares them. It’s nay way for children to live. Can ye nae see that?”
“I daenae care.”
Archer took a step forward, bringing himself only a few inches from Emilie’s body. He was close enough that he could feel the body heat rolling off of her.
He noticed it immediately. Even with the anger and frustration bubbling in his belly, he was wholly aware of every inch of her, aware of all the ways her body curved, bringing her even closer to him.
Archer tried to push the thought from his mind, tried to drive the essence of Emilie out of all the places in his brain that she’d seemed to take up residence. But she refused to leave.
“I will nae take ye questionin’ the way that I choose to interact with me own bairns,” he menaced. “I am the one who gets to make decisions about their care. And their studies? It is the most important thing for them to be focusin’ on right now.”
“But concernin’ themselves only with their studies and nothin’ else? That is nae a way for bairns to live. They need to run, they need to play.”
“They have a playroom.”
Emilie threw her hands up in exasperation. “That is nae what I meant, and ye ken that.”
Archer paused for a moment, his hands flexing at his side as he worked to get his aggravation under control. Finally, when he had a grasp on emotions once more, he continued.