Page 47 of Dead Wrong

“Add this to the collection,” Mother said quietly, snatching the scroll from the desk and thrusting it at the tutor. She then turned to where Lynette sat slumped in her chair. “Daughter, can you hear me?”

Lynette lifted her head slightly, an emerald jewel peering through the bramble of curls.

“Tell me what you saw,” Mother ordered, her tone far from comforting. Comfort wasn’t a tool in her repertoire.

My sister remained silent, staring up at Mother with wide eyes. The tutor bowed before leaving the room and closing the door behind her. I wanted to follow her, to get as far away from this version of Lynette as I could.

This wasn’t the first time I’d seen her seized by whatever force made her speak in that terrible voice. Mother said it was a gift. I thought it closer to a curse. Something that hacked away at my sister bit by bit till there would be nothing left but a hollow shell.

“Lynette,” Mother said, her voice echoing through the empty space around us. “I will not ask again.”

“They’re burning,” Lynette muttered, her gaze drifting up to the ceiling. “They will burn. There’s nothing you can do to stop it. You’ll burn too, Mother. The most spectacular of them all.”

Mother’s posture stiffened. I had never seen fear on Mother’s face before, but this was the closest thing to it, the way her eye twitched and the pull of her frown. She snapped her fingers and the door to the classroom opened, an Unseen servant moving silently into view. “Escort Lynette to her quarters and ensure she remains there till I summon her. Is that understood?”

The Unseen bowed his head. “Yes, Madame.”

“Tobias,” Mother addressed me, staring down with an icy intensity. “Walk with me.”

I knew better than to refuse Mother’s request, even if I wanted to more than anything, so I quickly followed after her as she turned and exited the classroom.

Chateau Greene was large enough that it would take us several minutes to make it back to the main house and Mother’s office. I hoped that the journey would be a quiet one, but those hopes were quickly extinguished.

“I worry for your sister, Tobias. If things should continue as they are, I’m not sure she’ll survive the days to come.”

“But… she’s the Successor.”

“Pay attention,” Mother ordered, snapping her fingers in front of my nose. “When she is taken by the Augur, a heavy toll is extracted from her body. If it continues to speak through her, then there may come a day when she doesn’t recover.”

“But she’s the Successor,” I said again. “There are none more powerful than her.”

“Not yet, she isn’t. She is young. You both are. Her power has not had sufficient time to mature. Which is why you must help her.”

That stopped me in my tracks. “Me? What can I do?”

Mother turned to face me, annoyance masked behind the thinnest wall of sincerity. “You must always help Lynette,” she said, clasping her hands in front of her. “And if it should come to it, you must sacrifice for her.”

“Sacrifice?”

“There is no greater honor for an Adored male than to serve their family. So, I must ask you, Tobias. What would you be willing to give to protect your sister?”

I mulled over the question. I loved Lynette more than anything else in this world. But did it mean I would do whatever it took to keep her safe?

“Anything,” I answered, though I wasn’t fully convinced it was the truth.

“And everything?” Mother questioned.

I nodded.

Mother managed a small smile. “Good. You will make me proud, my son. Of that, I am certain.”

“I’ll do my best, Mother.”

* * *

Our sanctuary’s interior was just as dilapidated as the exterior. The entire structure riddled with decay, from holes punched through the sloped roof, allowing residual light to pour through in beams and spill onto the dubious wooden floors, to cracks running up and down the walls, plaster and other detritus raining down with the slightest of breezes.

I watched as Cirian walked down the moldy carpet that ran through the center of the room toward the raised altar on the far end. Above the dais, opposite where I stood, a large swirling pattern—the symbol of the Source—was painted onto the plaster wall; the deep blue color faded with the erosion of time.

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