we can’t even fend off schoolyard bullying from the new generation of Nightfelds, the reputation of the family will be ruined.”
I clenched my fists, desperate to grab him by the collar and shake him. “Are you even listening to yourself? You’re going to risk your life over the reputation of a family that isn’t even yours! It’s Cly’s job to defend the family name. It’s Leda’s job. It’s not yours!”
But I’d said the wrong thing, I realized, even as Aegis's expression darkened further. I’d accidentally hit upon our long-unresolved disagreement.
“It is mine,” Aegis said, sharply. “I am a vassal of House Redbriar, born and bred. It’s my fate to serve it. You may not respect the blood you were gifted, but I do.” Before I could say anything else, he unscrewed the vial, dipped the stylus into the ink, and began to push its tip into his skin.
Behind me, Cly laughed, shrill with smugness and… relief? Relief that Aegis had saved her from either having to stop him, which she was too much of a self-interested coward to do, or agreeing with him, which would put the weight of the consequences on her conscience.
Mom was wrong. Understanding Cly didn’t lessen the disgust that welled up in me one bit.
I turned on her, and she scowled back. “Didn’t you hear Aegis? This is what he wants.”
“You can still stop him,” I said. “If you had the decency.”
“Piss off,” Cly snarled back, her face reddening again. “This is none of your business. If you need something better to do than sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong, then here!” She hurled a folder at me, hitting me full in the chest.
I caught the folder. It was filled with Cly’s homework from her classes today: Lower Magic, Alchemy, Divination.
“That should keep you busy,” Cly sneered.
I wanted to laugh. It was the first day of school, and she was already trying to weasel out of homework.
But I didn’t laugh, because an idea was starting to come together in my mind. I flipped through the homework, my head lowered to hide my grimly thoughtful expression.
Mom was wrong in that understanding didn’t bring sympathy. But she was also right, in a way. Knowing my enemy gave me an advantage.
I looked at Cly, turning to her laptop to watch some show. She was pretending not to notice Aegis across the room as he pricked new runes onto his forearms, brow furrowed and teeth clenched, his skin beading with blood and ink.
Cly was a lazy, selfish, bullying coward who cared only about her own pleasure and pain. She claimed the power and luxury that the Redbriar name brought, but wanted none of the responsibility and consequences. She craved for others to fear her, but screamed for Aegis to protect her the moment the tables turned.
She was nasty in ways that no decent, responsible person would be. But that also meant she was stupid in ways that no decent, responsible person would be.
And I was going to exploit that to take my first step toward freedom.
Chapter 6
I woke blearily the next day. Not because the homework had kept me up—this was introductory, first-day-of-class material—but because I’d pretended the homework had kept me up. I’d made sure to sit at the desk and look busy until Cly finally stopped binging episodes and went to sleep, shooting one last smug look in my direction.
Cly didn’t look much better than I did, at least. She groaned in her bed like a zombie, hiding her face under her pillow, a luxury I didn’t have. “Five more minutes, Aegis!”
Aegis worked around the pillow and her up-flung arms, inserting the ruby into her necklace. Bandages covered his forearms, extending from his wrists to under his half-rolled shirtsleeves. He looked terrible, his face haggard, his movements stiff. Spellbreaker tattoos went more than skin-deep; they reworked the whole body to change the way it interacted with magic.
Aegis was going to be feeling the aftershocks of those changes today. I was impressed that he could still manage being upright, alert, and in full nursemaid mode.
“Your Introduction to Higher Magic course starts in half an hour,” Aegis said, brow furrowing. “We need to hurry.”
“I don’t want to!” Cly wailed like a toddler. “School is stupid! And—and your arms aren’t even healed! How are you supposed to fight the Nightfeld brothers if they come after me again? Are you just going to let me get beaten up?”
“I’ll do everything in my power,” said Aegis, but he couldn’t hide a flash