William had deliberately leaned into the provocation. He was a master of reading the room, and he understood the precise moment Callom's paternal instincts had shifted from protective concern to wounded pride.
Seeing Berry's desperate affection for him had clearly struck a nerve in the robust man, and William, never one to shy away from a tactical advantage, decided to tease the man further with that intimate pat on Berry's shoulder.
In truth, William felt a surge of secret gratitude that he hadn't stayed behind in the forest to meet this man sooner.
If this was how Callom reacted to a "porter" who had saved his daughter, William could only imagine the suffocating grip the clan would have placed on him had he been brought in immediately. The man was a hurricane of emotion and power.
However, William's assessment of the situation was only half-complete. He didn't yet realize that this was Callom's fundamental way of interacting with the world.
