“I know. You were just worried about me.” I stood and circled the table to give her an awkward side hug.
I had been furious with her in the first flush of my heartbreak, but my fury had burned out when I stood in front of Zakary and realized the true blame lay with the criminals.
And Teacher Wendell. I was reserving plenty of blame for him.
My mother hugged me back fiercely, and I barely extricated myself to return to my seat.
“You could come along with my friends to see the Sealed Mage,” Timothy offered tentatively. “Gordy decided last week that he’s in love with you, so they won’t mind.”
I gaped at him. “Gordy thinks he’s in love with me? But he’s fourteen!”
Ellis shrugged. “All my friends think you’re pretty.” His expression and tone suggested this was a great mystery that he hadn’t yet been able to fathom.
“They don’t live with her,” Timothy explained wisely. “And they haven’t seen her when she’s angry. That must explain it.”
“I am not going to see the Sealed Mage with a fourteen-year-old who wants to make eyes at me,” I said firmly.
“There’s no point going at all,” Ellis said in a superior tone. “The Reds aren’t going to parade him through town.”
“Gordy heard it from his sister whose husband works at?—”
“I have to agree with Ellis on this one,” I said, cutting off Timothy’s spiel before it grew even more ridiculous. “They built the shielded hall for the sealing ceremonies at the main law enforcement hub, and that’s sure to be the hub where they’re keeping the Shrouded Mage. They have no need to parade him through the streets on the way to the ceremony.”
“Exactly!” Ellis exclaimed. “They’ll have been keeping him in the cells there from the start.”
Timothy lapsed into sulky silence before suddenly shooting his closest brother a look. “And what will you be doing tomorrow instead, then?”
“Nothing that has anything to do with you,” Ellis said too quickly, and Timothy gave him a disgusted look.
I glanced between them, interested despite myself. What did Timothy know that I didn’t? Had Ellis found a new girl to chase?
“I can’t approve of your strange fascination with such a violent person,” my mother said, not seeming to notice the tension between her youngest sons. “I don’t see why any of us need to lay eyes on him. In fact, I sincerely hope none of us ever do.”
“As you’ve said every day since we first heard of his existence.” I shook my head, but I was smiling.
“And what else would a mother hope for, I ask you?” she said with a return of her usual tart tone.
She stood to begin clearing the table, and we all clambered to our feet to help her. I tried to position myself so that I couldmanage a quiet question to Ellis, but he adroitly avoided me. And as soon as the table was cleared, he disappeared completely, although it was far too early for bed.
The next morning he didn’t appear at the breakfast table at all, and curiosity got the better of me.
“Where’s Ellis?” I asked Timothy. “What’s he doing today?”
I didn’t really expect him to answer—despite the squabbles, my younger two brothers had always been a pair, just as the older two were—but he muttered a single word under his breath. “Traitor.”
I straightened, fixing him with my sternest older sister stare. “What does that mean? You tell me right now, Timothy! Or I’ll…I’ll find a snake to put in your bed.”
Timothy threw me a horrified look. “See, if they saw this side of you, none of our friends would think you were so pretty.”
“Never mind that. You tell me what’s going on with Ellis.”
Timothy sighed and slumped as far into his chair as he could, as if he hoped to disappear beneath the table. “Ellis left the advanced school after only two years, but he’s still friends with most of the boys his own age there.”
I stared at him for half a second, not comprehending. Then everything became clear.
“Byron is the same age as Ellis!”
Timothy nodded, his eyes on his food. “All the sixteen-year-old boys are accompanying him to the sealing ceremony and waiting to see his wrists when he comes out.”
