Angel's POV
After breakfast, neither of them left.
That was the first signal.
Merrick didn't even move his body, and Terrell didn't stand and excuse himself to the business of the morning the way he had been doing. They both… simply stayed. At the table, with their cups, as if waiting for a third person to finish so that something can begin.
I set down my cup.
Looked at them.
"What is it?" I said.
They exchanged a glance.
"My study," Terrell said, and stood.
I looked at Merrick.
Merrick's expression was the careful one.
"Come," he said, and the gentleness of it told me everything about the weight of what was coming.
I entered Terrell's study for the first time that morning. It was decorated with dark shelves, cabinets, a large oak desk, and a low burning fire.
Two chairs had been positioned facing the desk.
Terrell went behind it.
Merrick sat in one chair.
I sat in the other.
I folded my hands in my lap and looked at Terrell and waited.
He looked at me.
