Family With Honour (Book 4)

Thirty Seven

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Gavriel finishes signing the papers. He stretches his arms above his head and rolls his head from side to side to try and release the tension in his body. His muscles protest but he stretches a little further not allowing the pain to restrict him. A cough splutters in his throat but he keeps it almost silent all too aware of the one watching him.

"Surely there is more that we can do. We could send for experts in this area, we could..."

"Dawn." His tone halts her immediately. "I am an expert in this area. I have also consulted a great many healers and other so called experts and they have been able to tell me nothing new. I am not bringing anyone else into this."

"You are giving up too easily!"

"I have exhausted all that I can. I am not giving up. I intend to last much longer than those men give me credit for. If I am careful and wise about what I do then I will see our son turn ten."

"You do not deserve this," Dawn softly says.

Gavriel snorts and reaches out to take one of her hands. "We both know that is not true. I brought this upon myself with all of my actions. I swallowed the poison and I made others resort to poisoning me also." His eyes peer pointedly into hers making sure she gets the point. Dawn flinches.

"You are leaving me at the mercy of your family."

"Not by choice and I have done everything I could over these last few years to make this place safer for you. My mother and father are far away from here and watched over by men loyal to me. I am in possession of too many of their secrets for them to dare come back and those secrets will become yours after my death."

"What about Gethin? You know that he is power hungry and he will not respect me once you have gone. Your people will prefer him over me."

"You can deal with Gethin. And I have chosen men to be around that will be loyal to you regardless of what he offers them. Our son is the rightful heir to the Ricell lands."

Dawn pulls her hand out of his grasp and rises to her feet. She looks down at her husband with a worried look. "Have you spoken with Logan? Perhaps he can help lengthen your life."

"I am not going to beg for help from a man I imprisoned only six years ago." Gavriel exhales deeply, keeping his temper in check. "I deserve this, more than you are probably aware. I want you to tell our son the truth if I die before he has strong memories of me. Tell him that I could be cruel and manipulative and that I made many mistakes. He will hear it from others so I would rather he hear it from your lips first."

"I will tell him. But I will also tell him that you had goodness in you and that you loved him greatly. I will not lie but I will not make you a monster in his bedtime stories," Dawn promises.

Gavriel nods and then he says something he has deliberated long and hard on. "If you do not wish to fight against Gethin and watch your own - and ours son's - back for the rest of your life I do understand if you choose to run upon my death and hide. I am not going to hold that against you. I believe Zara would take you in and protect you if needs be."

"Thank you," Dawn whispers. Gavriel swallows roughly.

"There are men still watching over Milly and Gideon. If you ever wish to contact them you simply need to ask. I have not and I do not intend to use them against my father but Gideon does have a right to compete against Gethin when he is old enough. Milly should be made aware of that upon my death."

"I will tell her but I believe she will be on the same page as I. I do not want to lose my son to this position when it comes at such great a cost. Surely we can leave now, being away from the stress and the poison of this place may give you more years to spend with him. We could be happy elsewhere."