Chapter 56: I’m sure it is the wisest decision you’ve ever made today, Sir.

"Please, sir. Let me speak to you this time." He managed to regain some self-control but still the fear was lurking beneath the surface.

"Whatever is doing this, whichever one has all the chances to finish off with us. Playing cards through my own arm, through Arturo’s clothing, playing cards everywhere in those rooms that are locked, in those drawers that are locked, next to your plate when all your guards are watching the entrances. It must be something very powerful, something very precise, but something that plays with us if it wants."

Bron was pacing back and forth around the room, with crossed arms and without uttering a single word.

"It is not attacking us, sir." Andree tried to persuade him to accept his arguments. "It is only warning us. That is the only explanation of what I see."

"But what does it want to warn us about?" Bron hesitated.

"I have no idea of that." André shook his head and continued. "However, everything has started from that house. That damned house, nowhere else. Neither the tavern where my men are drinking nor the roads we were travelling through for three days straight."

Bron stopped pacing.

"Tell me, sir, what has been going on recently?" He asked Bron quietly.

Bron chewed his lips once, twice and answered. "There is nothing that has been going on. That was the family’s house from the very beginning, from the moment we settled here."

"Until two weeks ago."

The following silence was deafening. Bron’s arms unfolded and now dangled by his sides. "Father!"

"Again, I’m not saying it is what that is. But I’m saying it is the only thing that has changed. For years, that house was quiet. But after he read the will and after you sent men to defend this house against your brother’s claim, all of the sudden the entire house is littered with cards that do not have any Numen, no trace, nothing that Xavier can trace down. I don’t think this is something to ignore."

Bron lowered himself into the sofa, elbows resting on his knees and his gaze fixed to the floor in front of him. "He always used to say that I had been too hard on my siblings when it came to dealing with all that in the end. Said I was too harsh on my men and too impatient in waiting for him to finally die."

"I do not accuse your father, sir. I just state the facts."

"You think that it is my father who is responsible for this. You think that it is he who is attacking me."

"I think that, no matter what it is that we’re dealing with here, that it seeks something particular. The only thing that it has to do with your house right now is your father’s death and everything that followed afterwards: the break. The land claim by Bosin. And you are bringing in hired help to protect this land."

Bron pressed both of his palms to his face and slowly rubbed them down over it. "All that I wanted was my share. I looked after him when no one came. Bosin never even visited more than two times in a season. It should have meant something."

"That may be true, but only to the living," replied André calmly. "I cannot guess what else it might mean."

It was quiet in the room for quite some time afterwards, only Bron’s heavy breaths filling the air along with sounds coming from elsewhere in the house, as the servants were cleaning up all the cards in every room they could find.

"Just let him take it." Bron said it almost inaudibly.

André raised an eyebrow inquiringly. "Sir?"

"The house. Just let Bosin take it." Bron took his hands off his face. There was something in his face, defeated. Andre had never seen such an expression on Bron’s face in the last couple of years. "I don’t need it anymore. No matter what is happening and no matter what will happen to me if I stay here and fight. It is just a house, just wooden walls."

"I’m sure it is the wisest decision you’ve ever made today, Sir." André spoke without a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Wisest decision or the only one allowing me to sleep tonight?" Bron chuckled quietly and rubbed his eyes. "Remove all men from the castle. This very night if you can manage. I don’t want any of us sleeping there tonight."

"Understood." André turned to the door and at last took a deep breath.

He walked across the yard with his arms swinging at his side and his eyes moving towards the guards standing their ground with full armor and spears planted. The realization was bitter and obvious to him but he didn’t dare to say it even to himself. Defeated. In just two days.

He got into the carriage and sank down on the bench watching the sunrise through the window while the carriage moved toward the castle. There was nothing left to do apart from removing his men from the castle and putting an end to this nightmare.

The carriage drew to a stop. He got out, and saw Pedro and the rest huddled up close in the garden, with the weapons still clutched up tight against their bodies like they had not laid down the arms at any time during the night.

He made his way over, glancing briefly and warily at the house before getting to them.

"Boss." Fidel stood up on quick legs. "What did the master say? Do we get to leave that cursed house forever, right?"

"Yes. Everybody is free to go. Master’s giving up the house."

"Thank God." Pedro began muttering to himself, thanking God over and over again. "Thank God, thank God."

Fidel helped Arturo to get on his feet, holding him up on one side; Arturo looked ready to topple down on his own legs ever since he regained consciousness. "Do we need to do some cleaning up first, do we?"

"No. Leave everything as it is." André glanced at Arturo and walked up to him. "Have you recovered your memories at least? Do you remember anything?"

"No. No, no." Arturo shook his head vigorously. "I was talking to Fidel, visiting the rooms, and then everything suddenly turned black. I tried calling for him but there was no response. I woke up only to find myself lying on the floor."

"I told you it was the devil." Pedro stood up, shaking himself. "Thank God it decided it did not have any hunger for you."

"It was not the devil." Arturo grimaced, holding his hand against his lower back. "It was a person. I heard it—"