and I understand what he means, what he wants. That he thinks he can ask me for it and he’ll get it, because he thinks we have no choice.
I fight to keep my expression blank, to keep my hand from flying through the air and hitting him. “That’s very kind, but we must refuse.”
“Refuse?” He blinks. “Refuse? How can you refuse?”
“We do have somewhere to go. We have family in the north. We’re expected. As soon as Mama is better, we’ll go. That’s what worried me, Mama being ill and delaying us. Not that we were destitute.”
His eyebrows rise higher and higher with every word I say, and then he bares his teeth at me. “You’ll go nowhere before you’ve given me the money you owe. Six florins now.”
“I…” I begin, but Unwin cuts me off, his tone whip-cruel and vicious now.
“I…” Unwin mimics in a high-pitched voice. “You what, Errin? Another excuse? Another witty retort?”
“I…” But my words have all left me, as fear of him – for the first time real fear – pins my tongue in place.
“Oh, will you spit it out.” He leans forward, his saliva speckling my face. “You were all full of clever words this morning. Where are they now? Hmm? No snappy comeback? No snide remark? Where’s my money, Errin?”
“Here.” Suddenly Silas is there again, rounding the corner and thrusting his hand out to Unwin, who turns to him as my jaw drops. He came back. He came back. “How much is it?”
“I’m here for her debts, not yours, whoever you think you are,” Unwin sneers as I gawp at Silas.
Before I’ve recovered myself Silas speaks again, moving his lanky frame between mine and Unwin’s, as if he’s preparing to shield me. “Six florins, did I hear you say? Of course.” He smiles at Unwin with a wide, beaming grin that I’d never have believed he was capable of as he thrusts a handful of coins at him, forcing Unwin in his surprise to take them. “There. All paid.”
The three of us stand in stunned silence; it seems to me that none of us can believe what has happened.
“Remove your hood,” Unwin barks at him suddenly. “Who are you? Show yourself.”
“If you’ll forgive me, I’ll keep my hood up,” Silas says calmly. “I was badly burned in a fire some years past. The burns never truly healed – it’s not a pretty sight.”
It’s clear Unwin doesn’t believe him. “I’ll bet I’ve seen worse, boy.” He reaches out as if to yank the hood down, and Silas steps back as I suck in a sharp breath.
“I’d rather you didn’t.” Silas’s voice suddenly radiates menace, all pleasantness lost to a rumble of threat.
“Where are your papers?” Unwin snarls. “Where are you from? You don’t even sound Tregellian to me. What’s your business here? Who are you to her?”
“He’s a family friend,” I say at the same time Silas says, “Cousin.”
I feel my skin heat again but it’s nothing, nothing compared to the violent purple blotches that bloom on Unwin’s cheeks, then spread across his face.
“Though I’ve always thought of him as a cousin,” I say swiftly. “We grew up together. It’s to his family in the north that my mother and I are going. He’s here to help us pack. And to escort us when Mama is better. Aren’t you?” With every fibre of my being I will him to go along with it.
“That’s right.” Silas smiles at me – a mischievous smile, lazy and wide – and my entire body burns with such intensity I’m surprised I don’t burst into flames. He takes my hand in his gloved one and I feel my heart shudder, and then stop. He’s touching me. Voluntarily.
“I’m here to help my dear cousin. We’re close.” I hear him speak, but it sounds far away, buzzing in my ears, my mouth dry.
Unwin’s eyes narrow to slits so thin I can’t believe he can see out of them. He looks back and forth between Silas and me. “I see,” he says slowly. “I see.”
“If that’s all – Mr Unwin, was it?” Silas says, and I can hear the relish of victory in his words. “We simply have to get on. Lots to do,” he says smartly, pulling me to the cottage door and pushing us both through it, before closing it in Unwin’s face.
My heart is beating so fast it feels as though it’s vibrating, but as soon as we’re inside he drops my hand. The swiftness of the rejection stings,