one of them who might have actually succeeded in getting free. Not Devlin, the kindest, smartest man he knew. No, not even a man. He was barely twenty. He couldn’t even legally drink yet. His life had been laid out before him, there for the taking.
Now he was gone forever, snuffed out in a war that wasn’t his.
Cillian’s head hung between his shoulders, hiding his expression. “It was the Hallorans.”
“Not now.” He couldn’t deal with talk of the future, not when their entire present was being systematically ripped to shreds. Something occurred to him. “Someone has to call our parents.”
And tell them Devlin was dead.
Chapter Sixteen
It went off without a hitch.”
Callie sat next to Papa while John gave his report. There had been significant damage done to the Hallorans’ property, no casualties, and they slipped away into the night before the Hallorans showed up to investigate. She leaned forward in her chair. “The night guards?”
“We incapacitated them like you ordered.”
Her breath left her in a nearly inaudible sigh. Thank God. The attack had been a necessary evil, but getting a low-level guard killed for no reason would have weighed heavy on her conscience. They had parents, possibly even children. They didn’t deserve to be dragged into this. In an ideal world, no one would die before they got this conflict resolved.
But this wasn’t an ideal world.
She cleared her throat. “Well done.”
“Get some rest.” Papa waited for the man to leave the office before he turned to her. “You were right.”
Pleasure at his approval threatened to go to her head. He’d never withheld it from her growing up, but it had always been something she strived for. She didn’t let it guide every choice she made these days, but the need to make him happy was always there in the back of her mind. “There are more ways to hurt someone than taking their life.”
“Halloran doesn’t feel that way. He’ll strike back, and he’ll strike back to hurt.” He suddenly looked tired, the lines around his mouth and eyes deepening. “Stay close, Callie. I couldn’t bear it if you…”
One more reason she couldn’t turn herself over to the Hallorans. If something happened to her, the last of her father’s children, it might actually kill Papa. She covered his hand with her own. “I’ll be careful, but you know as well as I do that I can’t hide away in the house like a princess in a tower. This won’t be the last conflict, and the men need to see that I can lead.”
“I know. Good lord, Callie, I know that.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’re more than capable of leading, but I’m human. I want to protect my daughter.”
“I understand.” But there were no guarantees. Papa knew that. It had been decades since the Sheridans warred with another family. All she remembered of it was her mother taking her and Ronan out of town and a wonderful summer spent in the country. She hadn’t understood then the new lines around her father’s face when they’d returned.
She did now.
She squeezed his hand. “It won’t be like before.” It wasn’t a promise she could make, but that didn’t stop her. Last time, he’d systematically killed the head of the MacNamara clan, and all three of his grown sons. She couldn’t allow him to make that decision again. He had enough deaths on his soul.
Hell, she had enough deaths on her soul, and they totaled out at one.
But she would add as many as it took to save her father from more—and to save Teague from adding any at all. She glanced at the clock on Papa’s desk. It was approaching noon and she still hadn’t heard from him. Worry flickered through her, but she firmly ignored it. When they’d spoken last night, it was clear he was drinking with his brothers. It was entirely possible that he was sleeping off an epic hangover. There was no reason for the hairs to be rising on the back of her neck. She pulled her hair over one shoulder, combing her fingers through in it in an effort to distract herself.
“You’re strong, Callie. You’ll get through this.”
“We both will,” she said firmly. She was nowhere near ready to take over the family. The sheer amount of responsibility her father shouldered on a daily basis was staggering. She could do it. She knew she could. But it meant her father was no longer strong enough to do it himself. She wasn’t ready to