Seduce Me at Sunrise (The Hathaways #2)(33)

Rather than remove his shirt entirely, Merripen unfastened it and let it fall to reveal his upper back and shoulders, the muscled slopes gleaming like copper. The tattoo was still a mildly startling sight to Cam, who had never seen it on anyone but himself.

Muttering in deep Romany, using a few words that sounded like Sanskrit, Shuri moved behind Kev to look at the tattoo. Merripen's head lowered, and he breathed quietly.

Cam 's amusement faded as he saw Merripen's face, detached save for a slight frown. For Cam it would have been a joy and a relief to encounter someone from his past. For Merripen, the experience was pure misery. But he bore it with a stoic endurance that touched Cam. And Cam discovered that he didn't like to see Merripen being made so vulnerable.

After glancing at the mark of the nightmare horse, Shuri moved away from Merripen and motioned for him to dress himself. "Who is this man?" she asked, nodding in Cam 's direction.

"One of my kumpania," Merripen muttered. Kumpa-nia was a word used to describe a clan, a group united though not necessarily by family ties. Pulling his clothes back on, Merripen asked brusquely, "What happened to the tribe. Shuri? Where is the rom baro?”

"In the ground," the woman said, with a pointed lack of respect for her husband. "And the tribe is scattered. After the tribe saw what he did to you, Kev… making us leave you for dead… it all went bad after that. No one wanted to follow him. The gadjos finally hanged him, when he was caught making wafodu luvvu."

"What is that?" Cam asked, unable to follow her accent.

"Counterfeit money," Merripen said.

"Before that," Shuri continued, "the rom baro had tried to make some of the young boys into asharibe, to earn coins at fairs and in the London streets. But none of them could fight like you, and their parents would only let the rom baro go so far with them." Her shrewd dark eyes turned in Cam 's direction. "The rom baro called Kev his fighting dog," she said. "But the dogs were treated better than he was."

"Shuri-," Merripen muttered, scowling. "He doesn't need to know-"

"My husband wanted Kev to die," she continued, "but even the rom baro wouldn't dare to kill him outright. So he starved the boy and put him in too many fights, and gave him no bandages or salve for his wounds. He was never given a blanket, only a bed of straw. We used to sneak food and medicine to him when the rom baro wasn't looking. But there was no one to defend him, poor boy." Her gaze turned chiding as she spoke to Merripen directly. "And it wasn't easy to help you, when you would do nothing but snarl and snap. Never a word of thanks, not even a smile."

Merripen was silent, his face averted as he finished fastening the last of his waistcoat buttons.

Cam found himself thinking it was a good thing the rom baro was already dead. Because he was feeling a powerful urge to hunt the bastard down and kill him. And Cam didn't like Shuri's criticism of Merripen. Not that Merripen had ever been a model of charm… but after he had been raised in such a merciless environment, it was a bloody miracle that he was able to live like a normal man.

The Hathaways had done more than save Merripen's life. They had saved his soul as well.

"Why did your husband bear Merripen such hatred?" Cam asked softly.

"The rom baro hated all things gadjo. He used to say that if any of the tribe ever went with one of the gadje, he would kill them."

Merripen looked at her sharply. "But I'm Romany."

"You're poshram, Kev. Half gadjo." She smiled at his open astonishment. "You never suspected? You have the look of a gadjo, you know. That narrow nose. The shape of your jaw."

Merripen shook his head, speechless at the revelation.

"Holy hell," Cam whispered.

"Your mother married a gadjo, Kev," Shuri continued. "The tattoo you bear is the mark of his family. But your father left her, as gadjos tend to do. And after we thought you died, the rom baro said, 'Now there's only one.'"

"Only one what?" Cam managed to ask.

"Brother." Shuri moved to stir the contents of the fire pan, sending a brighter glow through the tent. "Kev had a younger brother."

Emotion flooded Cam. He felt a dazzling change in all his awareness, a new inflection in every thought. After he had spent all his life believing himself to be alone, here was someone who shared his blood. A true brother. Cam stared at Merripen, watching the realization dawn in the coffee-dark eyes. Cam didn't think the news would be as welcome to Merripen as it was to him, but he didn't give a damn.

"The grandmother took care of both children for a while," Shuri continued. "But then the grandmother had cause to think the gadjos might come and take them. Perhaps even kill them. So she kept one boy, while Kev was sent to our tribe into the care of his Uncle Pov, the rom baro. I'm sure the grandmother didn't suspect how the rom baro would abuse him, or she never would have done it."

Shuri glanced at Merripen. "She probably thought that since Pov was a strong man, he would do a good job of protecting you. But he thought of you as an abomination, being half-" She stopped with a gasp as Cam shoved up his coat and shirtsleeve, and showed his forearm to her. The pooka tattoo stood out in dark, inky relief against his skin.

"I'm his brother," Cam said, his voice slightly hoarse.