"Is that what you would do?"
I swallow. "That's different."
"Because you're the son here."
She steps close enough that she has to tilt her head all the way back to meet my eyes. She has never been afraid of me. I have always been proud of that.
Right now, I almost wish she were afraid enough to stop.
"I know you, Torgan. Duran was too old. Evander was too soft. You have never approved of anyone entering our lives."
"Because someone has to watch over you."
"No one has to!"
Her shout bounces off the stone. She draws a breath, but it doesn't steady her.
"He ruined four boxes, Torgan. Four. And I am going to marry him. You can stand beside me when I do..."
She waits, daring me to argue.
"Or you can become a story I tell about the brother I used to have."
The vial is in my coat downstairs.
It has never felt heavier. Or farther away.
"I'm asking you once," she says, quieter now. "Just don't. Don't protect me from the best thing that has ever happened to me. If you try to stop this, Torgan, if you take this from me, I will never forgive you."
What am I supposed to promise when I don't know what I'll do?
My mouth fills with the words she wants.
I can't make them come out.
I've never made one of my sisters a promise I couldn't keep.
I don't know if I can keep this one.
Mirelle watches me for a long moment. Then she nods once.
"That's what I thought."
She walks past me and disappears into the hall.
Fuck.
I stay on the parapet long after the lights below have gone dark.
Somewhere beyond the Coalhazy Mountains is a town with a dress shop in it. Its owner has no idea that Princeton Voss is waiting for her to fail.
Every fitting, Ma said. Every consultation.
Fine.
Fine.
7
