Emilie scoffed at the sight. She understood exactly why everyone else who encountered her husband would be afraid of him. She understood why they would clamor to do his bidding, absolutely she did.
But what she didn’t understand was why his own children seemed to be so afraid of him.
The same spiral she’d gone down time and time again started in her mind. Wondering how cruel he really was, and if there was something she wasn’t seeing.
For the past few days, she had been able to stamp down that curiosity. She had been able to quiet it, to rationalize and tell herself that she didn’t need to dig any deeper.
But now the curiosity was too strong. Emilie had no idea why the twins seemed to be so frightened of their father. But the one thing she did know—she was no longer going to sit idly by and simply ponder it.
Whatever it was that was going on with this family, she was going to get to the bottom of it.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“Why are yer children frightened of ye?”
Archer had been taking a sip of his tea when his wife leveled the question at him, and it took everything in him not to spit the liquid out in surprise.
“What do ye mean?” he asked, swallowing the hot liquid and then turning his attention to his plate.
“The twins,” she explained, her voice matter-of-fact as she spoke to him. “Every time ye walk into a room, they dip their heads. They barely even look at ye. And they always look like they’re tryin’ to find any excuse to get out of yer presence. I want to ken why.”
Archer dropped the strip of meat he had been holding, hearing it hit his plate with a soft thunk as he looked at his wife.
Emilie’s back was straight, her hands disappearing below the table to rest on her lap. Her blue eyes were staring at him, piercing him like daggers.
Whatever game she was playin’ before, she isnae playin’ it right now.
The thought rushed through him, hitting him with its truth.
The day before, when Emilie had been talking, and she had been pretending to be dumb, her eyes had been clouded, and her voice had been deliberately pitched several notes higher.
But all of that had fallen away now. Her gaze was hard, her eyes clear as a summer’s day. And her voice?
In its natural state, it was much deeper, almost raspy, floating to him on a melody.
“It’s always been that way between us,” Archer said, shrugging one shoulder but not dropping his gaze. “I am raisin’ them to be great. They understand that, and they act accordingly.”
His eyes held hers, watching as the words washed over her.
“They’re only bairns,” Emilie argued back, her brows knitting together in concern. “It’s one thing to have them learnin’ their lessons and to expect them to do well. But it’s another thing entirely to take all the joy and play from their lives.”
Archer just stared at her. Try as he might, he couldn’t tell where this line of questioning was going. But he wasn’t going to question it. Not when Emilie’s guard seemed to be down and she was finally being her true self.
“I told ye before,” Archer said, finally turning his eyes away from her and back to his plate. “They have a playroom. And trust me, they use it. All the time. Ye’ll hear ‘em eventually, in there titterin’ about as they play with somethin’ or another.”
“And ye never play with them?”
Emilie’s voice was hard and filled with disbelief. He took a few bites of his food, allowing the question to hang in the air between them for a moment.
When Archer was ready, he glanced up at his wife again. Her posture had not changed in the slightest, and she was still watching him, just as she had been a few moments ago.
“I daenae play,” Archer growled.
Immediately, his wife began to shake her head.
“Well, that willnae do.”
Emilie pushed back her chair. Before he had a chance to question her further, his wife was beside him. She bent, grabbing hold of Archer’s hand and tugging on it.