Father Sold Me to an Alpha, So I Signed My Sister's Name novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: The Key

My father's hand never reached the pendant.

Conrad had come around the table so fast that I had not seen him leave his chair.

He stood between us with his fingers locked around my father's wrist.

"Guest right," Conrad said. "You are in my hall and you will keep your hands to yourself."

"Let go of me, Mallory."

"When you've stepped back."

My father stepped back.

Conrad let go, and a red ring stayed on my father's wrist.

Every elder at the table was on their feet.

Daphne had both hands over her mouth.

"Linnea," my father said. His voice shook. "That is a family heirloom. Give it to me and we'll forget all of this."

I looked at him.

I had never in my life seen my father afraid.

He had been angry, he had been cold, and he had been proud.

Now there was sweat on his upper lip, and his eyes would not leave my closed fist.

I put my thumbnail into the seam and pried.

The solder cracked.

The crescent split open along its bottom edge, and something small slid out into my palm.

It was a brass key, no longer than my finger, with a loop of faded blue thread tied through the end.

I knew the thread.

My mother had used it to mark her place in books.

I had not seen it in fifteen years.

"That's the key to her room," I said.

Nobody answered me.

My father's key ring hung at his belt, a heavy iron ring of keys, and he had kept it there my whole life.

He had told me that he held the only key to my mother's bedroom, and that he kept the room locked because the sight of her things would break his heart.

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