“I am. Thanks.”
“I…also wanted to mention our earlier conversation.” Cygnus hesitates, his eyes boring holes in the floor. “I shouldn’t have taken out my frustration on you.”
I feel a little rush of appeasement. This isnotan apology, but perhaps the closest I’ll get to one. “You’ve decided not to hate me, then?” I ask.
“I’ve decided not to blame you.”
“Very generous.”
Cygnus looks up. “It’s not your fault the Crown put you in a position to fail.”
Never mind. Still a prick.“What makes you sure that I’m going to?” I grind out.
He blinks. “Because you have no idea what you’re doing.”
I resist the urge to fling the nearest bucket at his head. “How wouldyouhave any idea what I’m capable of?”
His eyes darken. “If you had a patient admitted with painful white sores, coughing up blood, what would you give them?”
The question catches me off guard. “I…I would examine them first.”
“Sure. But any second-year medical student could tell you they had crow’s cough, and they’d need draught of leatherweed.”
I swallow.
He fires off another question. “If a mother were delivering a child, and she hemorrhaged, what’s the first thing you’d do?”
Shame blazes through me. “I’m not sure.”
“And if an infant was vomiting so violently that they were approaching dehydration, what would you give them?”
I know this one!“Sandal bark?”
“Wrong. Sandal bark isn’t appropriate for infants. You’d stop the child’s heart.”
Rage swells in response to his smug expression. I don’t need reminding that I have plenty to learn. My Talent claws up my spine, hissing to silence him. I have to struggle through a few calming breaths before saying, “Look, I didn’t say I know everything—”
“I would settle for you knowinganything,” he snaps. “From here on, that’s the assumption you should be working with. You know nothing and have everything to learn.That’syour baseline.”
He soundsjust like Mother.“Do you talk to all your staff like this?”
“The rest of my staff knows how to respect authority.”
“I don’t respect cruelty.”
Cygnus laughs mirthlessly. “It’s actually indicative of your naivety that you think I’m being cruel right now.”
“You are beingmean.”
“I’m trying to help you.”
“How is this helping?”
His nostrils flare. “There is a certain way things are done here. I’m warning you that youmustlearn to conform to that system, or you will draw unnecessary attention to yourself.”
Is he seriously trying to mask his disdain under the guise ofprotecting me?
“What do you want me to do, then? Go back to my room and twiddle my thumbs?”
