Mother looked over her shoulder. “Oh,Andie,he is only eighteen. Besides, everyone goes into the Spring Exhibition expecting a few cuts and scrapes—is that not the fun of being a boy?”
Anders narrowed his eyes at Mother. “That is not the issue,Dolly.”
Dolly? I wanted to vomit.
He returned his sharp glare to sheepish Derrick. “The issue is that aThornebowspilled your blood and you just laid there in the sand like a little worm. You should have run him through!”
“No weakness!” the monster roared.
I jumped and I swiveled my head, looking for the monster, but Derrick stood up and stole my attention.
“You wanted me to just kill a Thornebow to solve all of our problems?” he shouted “That did not work for you the first time!”
Anders launched across the room and his meaty fists gripped Derrick by the collar.
“Anders!” Mother cried as she grabbed Anders by the arm. “Leave him al—!”
Anders shoved my mother so hard she cracked the back of her head against Derrick’s bedpost.
“Adalia!” Derrick cried before Anders choked him into silence.
I knelt beside my mother on the floor. She blinked, dazed, as her hand floated to the back of her head. Her fingertips returned stained with blood.
Anders’s eyes widened but then narrowed into a glare. “He ismyson, Adalia. Not yours.”
He returned his ire to Derrick, who was red as a berry as his father choked him. “Your weakness will be the death of you—the death of all of us! The Thornebow rat was just the beginning. Soon, everyone will flock to pick you clean like ravens on a corpse. Toughen up, or you are going to face the consequences.”
Anders released his grip and Derrick crashed to the floor with a gasp. His watering eyes looked up at my mother, but she did not look at him. Mother glared with a poisonous malice at Anders as he dragged a silver flask out of his pocket.
I only wished Mother could have pushed back sooner.
“I am only trying to protect you, sorceress.”
I whipped around but found nothing but an empty bed. That damn monster was lurking beneath the fabric of the memory, I had to find him.
I turned back around. Derrick sat at his writing desk and stared at a sheet of parchment. His cheek only bore a bright pink line that was shining with fresh medicine. Mother and Anders were gone.
At least a day had passed between memories. I walked to the desk for more clues of where I was, but instead I smiled at the blank parchment. It was the beginning of one of Midnight’s letters to Birdie.
Which letter was it? Was he going to tell me about a new song he learned? Or was I about to see him craft a new poem?
Derrick’s head turned as two other boys entered the room.
“Damn, Derrick, are you still sulking?” Myles asked.
Gerond elbowed Myles in the ribs. “Careful not to upset the precious heir, lest he call for his father and ruin your life too.”
Derrick furrowed his brows. “I d-did not c-call for my…my father…”
Myles and Gerond roared with laughter. Derrick’s hand curled into a white-knuckled fist on top of his writing desk and his eyes shined.
“Oh look, thes-s-stutteris back!” Myles laughed.
“Is Der-bear going to cry?” Gerond shouted through his laughter. “Are you going to cry and get us sent to the military academy?”
Those pricks!
I wrapped my arms around Derrick’s shoulders. He could not feel me, I could not change anything, but…he needed someone.
