Page 158 of A Dead Man's B-Side
I looked back with a quick curl of my lips. “Says you. What areyoudoing here, uninvited and intruding?”
He stuck out his bottom lip and raised his brows at my audacious tone. “Look at you,” he said mockingly. “Lord of the Manor. Sewed Evander’s mouth shut, did you? Wouldn’t put it past you.”
I clenched my jaw and nodded to the purple ring around his left eye and cut lip. I almost preened in delight, satisfied. “You’relooking a little worse for wear, Thaddeus. That Machiavellian thinking finally caught up to you, did it?”
He sneered. “I’ll deal with you, your big mouth, and that past of yours later.” He slid his gaze to Evander, the brooding man still… well, brooding. “For now, we’ve got more important matters to discuss.”
He shrugged off his coat and threw it over a chair two seats down from Lacy, who had now lifted her head with clear eyes.
She tried to muster up as much of a smile as she could, no matter how grimaced it looked.
Evander forced himself to release the tortured napkin and speak through gritted teeth, “What is it?” Eyes no longer showcasing that burning fury of his, uncannily similar to Wolf’s, and jaw relaxed.
Thaddeus looked to me for clues as to why his friend, only moments ago, looked as though he might take a golf club to the window behind him, and I only shook my head once in a do-not-approach-him gesture.
Thaddeus heeded my subtle warning, choosing not to inquire further, and waited for Evander to meet his eyes before speaking, “Well, I’ve just gotten word that Silas Letum will be joining his peers at Castle Hill come the start of the next term.”
Epilogue
Rain Atlas Jett
1982
The Jett family home wasn’t exactly a home, per se. It was built like a castle and housed ghosts, ones that glided through its dark halls in silence, letting out hushed hisses at poor maids and hosting silent dinners.
One wife.
One husband.
Three daughters.
One son.
On the outside looking in, the family of six looked perfect. A strong male heir and his levelheaded twin by his side, their younger sister readying herself for an ambitious career, and the youngest, with three wise influences to lead her right.
Two proud parents who helped foster such quintessential children.
Except, Rain remembers what the world seems to have forgotten. Rain remembers that they are seven. Rain remembers that she has a brother. Rain remembers that she has a younger brother. She also remembers that his name was almost a taboo to utter.
And yet, she still does.
“Will Marlon be joining us?” She tried keeping her voice steady at the candlelit dinner table.
The dining room was far too bleak a place for Marlon. It was everything he hated, she noted. The table was too large for the otherwise large family.
Even now, Rain noticed the number of empty seats almost swallowed them up. Somehow, in a much more fundamental way.
This place gave her such an existential sense of isolation that she couldn’t help but find herself counting down the days for when she could return to Castle Hill.
Despite herself, Rain found comfort when her thoughts drifted to her six peers. To their loud, unguarded voices and chaotic nature. She thinks Kayan would like them. August’s rambling, Ajax’s mocking, the air of teasing that always seemed to engulf Paris, Marigold’s… silence, Sasha’s scheming plans, Wolf’s–
“Rain…” Her mother was always the first to speak, careless of her husband’s authority, because in the sewers of their relationship, she was always the one pulling the strings. Her lips pursed and her eyes tightened. “I won’t repeat the warning I had given you in September. M–... Your brother will join us when he is ready.”
“I want to hear nothing of the matter again. Let it be put to rest at once,” Her father says, attempting to assert his quasi-power.
For a moment, only one, Rain, wishes she could scream. She wishes she could scream, and tear out her hair, and throw herselfback against her chair, and bang her head against the thick wood until she draws blood.
She glanced at her older brother and then her older sister. Though, she didn’t expect anything out of them save for subtle sneers and eye rolls. They always hated Kayan and what he represented in the Jett family.
