A Crystal of Time (The School for Good and Evil The Camelot Years #2) - Soman Chainani Page 0,163

since he ended up expelling her from the school. My mother believed that women didn’t have the same advantages that men like her brother had. That her only chance at glory was to cozy up to powerful men. Like Arthur. Like the School Master. Both attempts backfired. Clearly Arthur wanted nothing to do with her. And the School Master didn’t just banish her; he cut off contact entirely. My mother sent him letters, begging him to accept Japeth to the School for Evil, to take him off her hands. He owed it to her, she said. But he never answered. Nor was Japeth claimed by the stymphs when the time came.”

“Did your brother know any of this?” Sophie asked, treating another bruise. “That your mother was trying to get rid of him?”

Rhian shifted uncomfortably. “No. We were out of money by that time too, barely having anything to eat. Finally my mother told us she was going to see our father. If she could just face him in person, she had hope he’d help her. She’d make him help her. In the meantime, my brother and I would be enrolled at Arbed House. She’d had a talk with Dean Brunhilde, who, after meeting my brother, assured my mother she could handle Japeth, or ‘RJ’ as the Dean affectionately nicknamed him. She seemed to relish lost causes. Even so, my mother insisted I be there to help keep an eye on him. Until she came back, of course.”

Rhian took a shallow breath.

“Never heard from my mother again. My guess is Arthur rejected her. This was around the time the king died. Something in her must have broken after that. She never came back for us. Didn’t send a single letter. The love I thought she and I shared . . . the bond I thought we had . . . None of it mattered. She wanted to get away from Japeth. She wanted to get away so badly she was willing to leave me behind too.”

A tear hovered at the corner of his closed eye.

“For a long time, we didn’t know where she was. We heard rumors. That she met the Mistral Sisters and became interested in the theory of the One True King. That she joined a colony of women, intent on enslaving men. That she killed King Arthur herself. All we knew for sure is that she ended up at the School for Good and Evil as its Dean, with a vendetta against Arthur’s son. It only gave me more proof that Arthur was our father. Clearly she wanted to take revenge on Tedros for his father’s betrayal. For taking everything her sons deserved. She even tried to bring the School Master back from the dead to kill Tedros. But in the end, it was the School Master who killed her.” Rhian exhaled. “My brother and I were on our own for good.”

A warm gust curled through the veranda as they sat in silence, Rhian’s heart pumping under Sophie’s palm. For him, this was digging into the darkness of the Past; for her, it shined new light on the Present. Evelyn’s dress softened against her body, like a loving embrace, as if at last she knew all its secrets. For a moment, any agenda, any plan she’d had evaporated in the wind.

“She abandoned you,” Sophie said quietly. “She abandoned you because of your brother.”

Rhian didn’t answer.

“Does he know?” Sophie asked.

Rhian opened his eyes and the tear fell. “He thinks she went to see our father because she still loved him and was proud to tell him about her sons. That when he rejected her, she died of a broken heart. I could never tell Japeth the truth. That it was him that drove her away. That it was him that broke her heart. It’s the curse of being Evil. It makes you torment the ones you love. And Japeth loved my mother too much.”

Sophie went quiet, thinking of all the times love made her a monster.

“Not long after my mother died, the Mistral Sisters came to us,” said Rhian. “They told us King Arthur was our father, just like I’d always known. When Japeth mocked them, they gave us that dress you’re wearing now. My mother’s dress that came alive before our eyes. It led us to the pen that showed us our futures. The pen that picked you as my queen. The pen you think is a mystery . . . but that dress knew where to find