A new chapter for Cullen and Niamh in Haven. I beta and edit this story and love it to bits.
Excerpt:
“Are you all right?” Josephine asked delicately. Niamh looked at her, the calm grey eyes and the serene, unruffled demeanour everything she wished she was in that moment.
“I’m getting there,” Niamh said, taking another sip of tea. “What did Aunt Helene want?”
“Would you believe me if I said she wanted to help out?” Josephine answered, glancing down at her clipboard.
“Not really. It’s not her style. She always has strings attached,” Niamh said with a sigh.
“As does your grandmother,” Vivienne pointed out. “I’ve known your grandmother for the better part of three decades, and she never does anything without expecting something in return. Whether that is the utter control over her family, or the expectation that she will be able to call in a favour at some unspecified date— she doesn’t do anything without that. She’s a shrewd woman, but you have every right to be angry with her for calling in Helene duCasperge without consulting you, or Lady Montilyet.”
Niamh looked at Vivienne, and then at Josephine, who nodded.
She had never considered that her grandmother had been playing the Game for so long— or rather, that she had outplayed her time and again. Her head warred with her heart, Vivienne’s words sinking in slowly. A part of her wished to deny the allegations that Vivienne had brought against Granny, but the rational, logical part of her knew that there was truth in what she said. Granny was always the mistress of half-truths, and Niamh hated never knowing the realities from the lies.
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