Majken smiles. Nods.
I stand up and go to the window, showing them my back. Vulnerability.
Trust.
For the first time in weeks I breathe easily. The trees twitch in the wind, another January storm setting in.
Lovers.
Is that what we were?
I turn towards my sister. She’s watching me, waiting. She needs me to agree and even if I do, I don’t know what I’ll need to do to get out of here alive or without more blood on my hands.
Blair. Isaac. Me.
Pretenders to a tarnished crown.
“Tell me what you want to know.”
Part One
September - Four Months Before
“And all at once, summer collapsed into fall.” –Oscar Wilde
Chapter One
It’s as if someone has turned off the sound.
The tear of sirens and alarms has suddenly stopped, the roar of commotion ending as if a conductor has told the tin symphony to stop.
I know fuck all about symphonies. Or conductors. Or anything, really.
“I need to know what happened.”
Blair’s voice is crisp. Her words don’t tremble and her hands aren’t shaking. She’s unnaturally calm.
I’ve seen people in these situations before, one of the treats of war and being a soldier. A loved one - sibling, parent, child, husband, lover – is killed, the news delivered. Some scream, some sob. Some lose their speech or try to harm themselves. Some wither away and pretend they don’t exist.
Blair stands straighter, her shoulders back. She’s had the same posture since the first time I met her, back in the maze at her Scottish castle when we were kids. Her chin juts out, stubborn.
“We’ll find out.”
She nods. “My father…”
“Phone him from the car. We need to get you back home.” Where it’s safe. Where we can control the environment, turn security up to more than full.
Footsteps I’d recognise anywhere come to the door. Isaac looks in, his eyes assessing me and then Blair.
“Your car’s at the back. The roads towards the motorway are currently closed to anyone but you. Get the fuck out of this city now.” There’s an urgency to his voice I’ve not heard before.
“We’re going. Franklyn can follow with her stuff later.”
Blair’s standing at the window, looking out. Her blonde hair is lit by the false lights from the city.
“They’ve arrested someone.”
Isaac’s words take both of us back.
