“You came too late,” Genny says, moving in close to my side. She eyes Neve with a scrunched nose before moving on. The man Zarev mentioned, Cyrus, lingers behind her. “We needed you yesterday.”
“Even if we were here yesterday,” I reply in a low voice, “we do not stop Death. Ray knows that as well as any of us. We would have only been here sooner to help with Tom’s passing.”
She reaches out, tightly gripping my arm with desperate eyes. “Can you see him? Is he still here?”
I don’t look toward Dahlia again. I don’t want Genevieve to have any false hope or attachment to the spirit. She doesn’t have the ability to see the dead, so even if I tell her, she’ll never be able to spot Thomas. It will only bring Tom’s spirit sorrow to watch his siblings seek him out. “He’s moving on, Genny. That’s the way it has to be.”
Her eyes mist over, and she digs her nails in harder. “That’s not what I asked. Is he suffering? Ray was beside himself when Rapunzel said she had to let him go.Let him go. As if it’s her right to decide.”
There’s bitterness in her voice, and this time I do glance toward the princess. With Zarev joining her across the room, he’s tucked the shadows surrounding them. It helps hide her in the darkness, where they can’t speak, but almost no one can watch either.
I don’t know enough about Rapunzel to comment on her abilities. Legs’s words play back in my head, but I shove them away. “I know you’re hoping for a miracle, Genny, but there isn’t one. Tom’s spirit has passed on. Doing anything else with his soul would only cause lasting damage.”
“But he saved me,” she whispers, her lower lip trembling. “He made sure the flames didn’t touch me. He wasn’t supposed to burn.”
She begins to cry, and panic crawls across Cyrus’s features. After rolling my eyes, I guide Genny toward the nearest seat, pushing on her shoulders until she sits down. Then I shoot him a glare. “Why don’t you go get her some water?”
Cyrus’s cat ears twitch, and I wait for the argument his eyes promise. Instead, he spins on his heel, practically scurrying to the back. I pat Genny’s shoulder but she just shrugs me off. Instead, she nods toward Neve, giving me a subtle head shake and points away, indicating that we should move on.
Maybe that’s better. I haven’t seen Ray’s siblings in years, and right now, I don’t think any of them are thrilled to see me. Across the room, a few of the younger ones are circling Lucius, pointing at his wings and marveling at the shadows he uses to see. At least he’s good at entertaining them.
We turn, my sights set on Dahlia. She didn’t try to cut me down outside for my admission, but that might have changed. We only make it a third of the way over the room before we’re intercepted by another sister.
She crosses her arms, glaring up at me. I try to smile, but she isn’t having it. “Elsie.”
Her voice is low as she speaks, and with the noise filling the room I can barely hear her words. “Tom’s body.”
Neve tenses beside me. I don’t look toward Zarev or Lucius when she grabs my arm, locking her fingers through the crook of my elbow, hauling me toward the stairs. Neve follows a few steps behind, the ice in her neck constantly keeping me informed of where she is.
“Thomas is upstairs?” I ask quietly, wondering if the rest of the family will follow.
“We had to bring him upstairs once the second floor was built,” Elsie says in a flat voice, her words lacking emotion or empathy. It’s like she’s reading a script instead of recounting events. “He was in too much pain, and travelers could hear him… suffering.”
I pat Elsie’s hand, but she doesn’t even seem to notice. She’s the second-oldest sister, a few years behind Genny. The youth is usually bright in the fullness of her cheeks and, most of the time, the light in her eyes. Right now, she’s hardly recognizable.
The second floor holds maybe a dozen rooms, laid out far more cleanly than before. Everything runs along orderly hallways instead of the tangled expansions that twisted through the old inn. There’s even a third floor—the stairs keep climbing—but Elsie pulls me down the hall to the first door on the left.
She stops just before the threshold, her legs locking in place. “He’s in there. I was in there with Rapunzel and Ray when…”
Her voice trails off, and I squeeze her arm before trying to disentangle myself. She’s not letting go. “Elsie–”
“Ray blames Zelle,” she says in a low voice, dropping my arm and turning to me. Unlike some of the others, there aren’t tears down her cheeks. “I don’t. Tom was crying all the time, whimpering whether he was awake or asleep. He couldn’t be awake without being in pain, and he even asked Rapunzel how much longer, but she never had an answer. She stopped the fire that consumed him but she couldn’t stop the burn. It was already working its way through him.”
“Elsie, you don’t have to–”
Her eyes harden, glaring into mine, and I snap my mouth shut. “Ray blames himself for Thomas’s death. He was supposed to look out for the family after Dad passed, but he wasn’t here when Ysanna showed up with her fire, nor was he able to stopthe spread until it was over. Thomas died because Rapunzel let him stop suffering. I’m happy she chose to listen to him. We couldn’t. We weren’t strong enough.”
Nodding, I wait to see if there’s more. Her mouth opens and closes like there’s something else she needs to say but instead she simply shakes her head. Neve shifts awkwardly, looking between us and the door like she’s not sure she should be up here at all.
I squeeze Neve’s hand, hoping she understands I don’t want her to go. In many ways, Tom was my brother, too.
“I heard some rumors downstairs about Dad,” Elsie says quietly, scuffing her boot against the floor. “About… the giant Ray and Tom saw that day?”
I stiffen, and she pushes on before I can say much else. “I just thought I’d say… I don’t blame you for that either. Ray feels like he’s failed the family, but that’s not true. We need him more than we need to place blame. And… the same goes for you.”
She shoves open the door without another word. Inside, there’s a body lying on a bed with the sheets tucked haphazardly around him. It’s obvious people were in here for a long time, seats and cups of water strewn over most of the extra space. There’s an old piece of fabric across a bare window, blocking out the sun, and lots of cups and a jug for water. There’s even what appears to be a makeshift bed next to the main one. I assume this is where Rapunzel rested when she was exhausted from healing.
Across the main bed lies Tom, his eyes still open.
