“Well, hello there,” Chaz crooned from the table. I ran my tongue over the top of my teeth, holding back a retort.
“It’s Chaz, right?” Rose said, tilting her head at my friend as if she hadn’t spent hours with him just four days previously. A hint of a smirk pulled at her lips.
Chaz held a hand to his heart. “You wound me.”
I pointed to him and motioned for him to stand. “You. Up. We’ve run through enough reports for today.”
Giving me a dramatic bow, he said, “As you wish, sir.” He straightened and winked. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
I moved to smack him on the back of the head, but in the blink of an eye, he disappeared in thin air. We heard his muffled chuckle on the other side of the door growing more and more distant.
“He seems like a handful,” Rose said with a snort.
“He is,” I agreed. “He’s also my best friend, strange as it may seem.”
She nodded. “No, I can see it. I mean, you’re so…you,” she said, holding a hand out as if that explained everything.
I took a step toward her. “And what am I, exactly?”
“Serious. Brooding. A chronic scowler.” She grinned, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Even in the short time I’d known her, I could see how swift she was to use jokes and sarcasm to cover up her vulnerability.
I wanted to reach out and comfort her, but instead I clenched my hands at my sides. “What’s wrong, Rose? Why did you come here?”
“Is—is Rissa here?”
“Not right now, but she should be home soon if you want to wait for her.”
“No, it’s alright. It might be better this way.” Her cheeks flushed. “I need to tell you something. Something I should have told you last night.”
My guard was instantly on alert, apprehension sliding over me. “What are you talking about?”
She sighed heavily and closed her eyes. “Look, I may not have been completely honest with you.” Opening one eye and peeking out at me, she winced. “About my meeting with Gayl.”
I gritted my teeth, but reined in any emerging anger.You’re so quick to expect the worst in others, little brother. Sometimes you have to look harder to find their best.My sister’s words from the other night came roaring back, urging me to stop anticipating the worst. Tonot close my mind down in the face of suspicion and betrayal. To listen and trust andlook.
“Come sit,” I said, turning and leading her to the couch. “What happened?”
Rose balanced on the edge of the cushion, refusing to meet my eyes. Her fingers rubbed furious circles into the leather of her herb pouch. There were so many of her layers left to uncover. So many sides beneath the bold, reckless, sharp woman I was used to seeing. This side of her…it reminded me of that morning in the alcove. Pained, scared, and running.
She took a deep breath. “I should have told you last night, but I was just so—so overwhelmed. Gayl talked about my father, about living in Feywood and it—it was a lot to take in. I didn’t know what to think. I wasn’t sure if I even believed him.”
Reflexively, I extended a hand and rested it on hers, pausing her nervous habit. “Slow down, Rose. Start over. What did he say?”
She met my eyes, wariness shining in those emerald pools, and licked her bottom lip before saying, “Theod—Gayl is my father’s brother. He’s myuncle, Leo.”
We sat there in stunned silence for a moment as I tried to wrap my mind around what she’d said. “Your…uncle? How is that possible?”
“Everything I told you was true—heisfrom Feywood. And hedidknow my father. It’s just a little more complicated than that. They had a big falling out years ago, and Gayl changed his name and moved to Veridia City long before I was born.” She took her hand out from beneath mine and ran it through her hair, those long strands dripping like ink down her chest. “I’m sorry, Leo. I was in shock. I was angry with Morgana and Ragnar for never telling me, and I needed time to—to let it sink in. You surprised me at my window while I was still processing it all.”
Theodore Gayl was her uncle. The man I’d spent my entire life despising, who had ripped our lives out from under us, shared her blood.
How had this happened? How was it that the person we’dfound to carry out this duty ended up being related to the very man we wanted to overthrow?
Was this how she had felt when learning I was Branock Aris’ son, who she believed killed her father? The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on me. But she wasnother uncle. Shared blood didn’t determine the choices one would make or who they would become.
And yet…a small part of me wondered if it was all a coincidence. If she and Gayl had somehow conspired to trick us, getting close enough to us to turn this whole operation around and expose us as the rebellion.
But did I believe that? Or was that me expecting the worst in others, denying them the grace my sister was so adept at?
