“I’ll tell Mum and Father. I planned to this very night, actually, then you upstaged me with your announcement.” Octavian smiled into the fire. “But I’m not afraid. That’s what losing Skyler…” He stopped and looked at us, his eyes full. “His name was Skyler.”
Immediately, and at the exact same time, Odin and I slipped down to the floor, one to each side of our brother, and put our arms around him.
“That’s what losing Skyler did for me,” he continued, his voice thick. “You realize what is valuable and what is bollocks. I’m not going to follow in the business. I’m going to wander around Europe for a while and figure out who I am and what I want.”
“Okay,” Odin said. “You do that.” He looked to me. “And if you want to play, play. I’m going into the business. Iwantto go into the business. I want to follow in Father’s footsteps. Always have.”
My gaze jumped between my brothers, both of them looking at me expectantly. “I…I don’t know. I’ve always planned on going into the business too. Piano was always just…”
“Something you loved,” Octavian said, and Odin nodded. “You loved it until they told you enough times it was just a hobby. Nothing serious. Nothing you could actuallydoand make them proud. Right?”
I swallowed hard. “Maybe,” I whispered. “I don’t want to be an embarrassment. If I go out in the world like I am…”
“There’s nothing wrong with who you are,” Odin said and looked between us, like the big brother he was. “None of us.”
“Orion…” Octavian smiled through his tears. “Don’t wait until someone falls through the ice to find that out.”
***
We went our separate ways to bed, and I passed by my mother’s favorite drawing room and heard voices. Mum and Father were sitting by another fire—our estate had thirteen or fourteen chimneys; I could never remember—and talking in quiet voices. It was clear they hadn’theard our commotion outside.
“You’ll take care of him, won’t you?” Mum was saying, sipping a tiny glass of port. “If it’s true about that dyslexia, we need to protect him.”
I froze, listening, and suddenly I was ten years old again, listening as my first diagnosis was handed down and discussed.
“I will,” Father said. “It’s more important than ever to keep him in the family business.”
“But what about Cambridge?”
“If he wins the Novus Science prize, we can claim he’s precocious enough to skip it. He won’t have to struggle out there or embarrass himself. And no one needs to know.”
“I like that,” Mum said. “It’s a private matter, and he’ll be safe. Thank you, dear.”
The issue settled, he took her hand in his, and they smiled stiffly at each other and watched the fire.
I headed back upstairs slowly.
Protect him.
He won’t have to struggle or embarrass himself.
He’ll be safe.
No one needs to know.
In my room, Harper pulled me into bed. “Everything okay?”
“Yep,” I said, grateful for the dark hiding my expression. “All good.”
Chapter 28Harper
I spent the remainder of my visit being whisked around London andthe quaint little village closest to Ademere, and then it was time to go home. Orion still had a few more days with his family, so he and his brothers saw me off to the airport.
“Lovely to meet you, Harper,” Odin said, engulfing me in a hug. “Come back anytime.Anytime.”
Octavian gave me a small bow and a formal handshake. “I wholeheartedly second that.”
Orion walked with me as far as he could. “You survived.”
