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“Callahan!”

“He prefers Cal,” Selena cut in. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was still wearing that damnRocky Horroroutfit. Her mouth was painted dark red, and somehow, she’d managed to make her eyebrows all but disappear except one thin line.

My mother turned her attention back to the girl with the straight spine, standing unbending before her, refusing to be intimidated.

“Is that right? I call him Callahan because that’s his name. The one I gave him. I won’t call him a nickname like his peers do.”

Selena opened her mouth to argue, and I cut in, predicting this could go nowhere good.

“Right, well, I’m beat. I just got back from London and visiting Emily at the estate. I need to sleep,” I cut in.

Mother paled a little at the mention of Emily. Whether it hurt her to think about her, or she didn’t like the reminder that she hadn’t bothered to show at the graveside for the third year running, I couldn’t say.

“Selena, you need to get to bed. You have training in the morning,” I told her.

She narrowed her eyes at me. “I do?”

I nodded. “You do.”

“Lucky me.” She sighed. She looked between me and my mother. “Goodnight, then, I guess.”

I nodded toward her.

“Goodnight, cheer captain.”

She rolled her eyes at me and walked away regardless, leaving me alone with my mother.

“So, now you’ve got to cohabit with that attitude, thanks to your father,” Mother said, patting my hand sympathetically.

“She’s fine,” I corrected her. I wasn’t going to get into anything about Selena with her; her opinion wasn’t relevant enough. But still, hearing her mouth off grated on my nerves. “She’s livened the house up, to be honest.”

“I’m sure she has,” she said with a scathing look at the doorway Selena had just disappeared through.

“So, what’s your plan? Will you stick around for the game, or should I tell Cal not to expect it? You know he cares a lot about you.”

She stared at me. I stared right back. There was little leeway in my heart for her puppy-dog gaze.

“And you don’t?”

I shook my head. “I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to.” She pushed herself up, swishing over to the window that overlooked the beautiful night view of the back gardens, the illuminated swimming pool lighting up the darkness.

“You’re just like your father, you know. Despite my best efforts.”

“I didn’t know you could make an effort from a world away. How interesting.”

She shook her head. “You’re so—cold, just like him. Mistaking discipline for happiness and control for living.”

“Well, we can’t all swan off improving ourselves all over the globe. Someone has to do the boring part: stay here and work. To pay your bills, if nothing else.”

She was silent and then sighed. “You think I’m selfish, just like your father did when I left. You learned that from him.”

“I drew my own conclusions,” I ground out. Her words pissed me off because they were true. My life was dull and passionless. I was cold. Aloof. Isolated. I hadn’t seen it before I’d come to Hade Harbor, but now I couldn’t escape the knowledge.

She shook her head. “He poisoned you toward me. I know it. You don’t understand what it’s like to live a life devoid of joy?—”

“Don’t I?” I heard myself demand, way more emotionally than I’d planned to. “I might remind you that you still had me and Cal, but I suppose we weren’t enough.”