"That accounts for Alan's strange reception of me the same day." Brett held up a warning hand.

Ooma was still talking.
"I taunted him with thriving on the plunder of his own people.

That made him furious.

He raved about the world being in league against him.

The only relative he loved, one who was more than brother, had stolen the woman he wished to marry; his sister was a living lie; his cousin a blackmailer.