Page 91 of The Thirteenth Child
He walked with a pronounced limp, heavily favoring his left side. When he reached the foot of the bed, I saw he was a member of the Fractured—one of the Divided Ones’ sects so devout they carved themselves up into separate pieces, just like their gods. Long lines of scar tissue ran across his face, dividing it into five parts. One of the cuts had gone through his lips, tugging one corner of his mouth into a perpetual frown, leaving the other side in a smile.
But no amount of scarring could disguise him from me. I instantly knew who he was.
“Bertie?”
Chapter 31
He tilted his head, frowningwith both sides of his mouth as he looked me over. “I’m sorry…do I know you?”
My smile began to falter. “It’s me…Hazel.”
For a long, dreadful moment, his eyes remained flat. “Hazel?”
“Your sister?” I couldn’t help but ask it as a question. Had he forgotten about me?
“That’s not possible.” He squinted, searching my face for something to recognize. I saw the moment he realized it was true. “Hazel?” His words swelled with wonder. “I was told…I thought you weredead!”
Surprise flickered through me.
Bertie came around to carefully sit on the edge of the bed. He was so different than I remembered, but I could still see traces of the little boy he’d been, now stretched into shapes long and unfamiliar. His body folded into awkward angles as he perched on the mattress.
“Itisyou,” he said, awestruck, before throwing his arms around me. “What blessings! What joys! I can’t believe it!”
“Nor I,” I admitted, tightening my hold on him. “How long have you been here?”
“Not terribly, perhaps a fortnight? I was one of the brothers charged with bringing the latest flood of children to the Rift. I was in Saint Genevasire before this.”
“That’s not far from Alletois—where I live now,” I supplied.
“When was the last time you were at home?” he asked, his eyes wide, dancing over my face, my hair, drinking in the changes.
“I…” I didn’t want to discuss my final visit. Not with Bertie. Not after all this time apart. “Not for a while…My godfather finally came for me. Just a few years after you…” I paused, unsure of how to phrase the turn his life had taken. “On my twelfth birthday.”
He glanced toward the ceiling, struggling to do the math in his head. “You’ve been gone for so long. Did you hear…” His voice dropped a fraction. “Mama and Papa…they died.”
I found myself unable to read his expression. “Yes,” I said carefully.
He beamed. “But the blessed ones have brought us together once more. Such good fortune.” He kissed the tips of his fingers and made a gesture of gratitude toward the air, then clutched at his necklace. A small set of bronze pipes dangled from it, riddled with etchings I couldn’t make out and words I couldn’t read.
“How…how are you?”
The question felt stilted falling from my lips. It was something that shouldn’t have to be asked, something a sister should just intrinsically know. But I didn’t. Not anymore.
I studied the lines of scars running across his face, down his arms. Even his fingers had been bisected and mended back together. He looked like a patchwork quilt, sewn by a child with stitches clumsy and too big, and my own body hurt as I took in the scars.
“My heart is overflowing,” he said joyfully. There was a peaceful serenity to his countenance, a contentment I’d never felt within myself. He looked radiant, glowing with an inner happiness that the scars, no matter how severe, could not diminish. “I never thought I’d see your face again in this world, but here you are. Such blessings! Such fortunes!”
“Hereyouare,” I echoed. There was something about his joy that made my innards squirm. Despite all the differences in ourchildhoods, we were surprisingly alike, each serving the gods in our own way. But I had never felt as happy about it as he seemed.
Bertie paused as if remembering why I was here in the temple. “But you’re unwell. Amandine said you were unconscious when you arrived.”
I nodded. “I’ll be fine.”
“Has anyone come in to examine you? Head wounds can be—”
I smiled. “No. I actually…I’m a healer now.”
Bertie’s face lit up again, as bright as a sunbeam. “How marvelous. I never would have guessed such a life for you. Mother Félicité has guided your path well. What blessings! What fortunes!”
