Page 46 of Summer

“You leave today. Now,” Mother cuts in. “Did you think I’d let you attend the wedding? It’s an embarrassment! Aaoric is nearly twenty and eight, just now married. There stands his sister, a spinster with no prospects! Even at our greatest, we’ll be mocked. It’s better to send you off – out of sight. Thankfully you’ve no social standing so it will be months, perhaps even years before anyone realizes you’ve gone.”

Her words sink in, a bone deep ache that splits me open. No, the stupid aristocrats my mother and father brush elbows with won’t know I’m gone. But the servants will – who will fight for their raises? And the landowners on our property, they’ll know. They’ll call upon Father to settle a skirmish, and he’ll suggest a duel or take bribes to choose a side.

Aaoric will know I’m gone. He is my brother, my closest friend. I’ll tell him, and he’ll save me. He’ll use his position as the marquess to pull me out or simply forbid I go. He has some power, doesn’t he? As the eldest son? Some power that I don’t.

“Let me say my goodbyes, then,” I say stiffly. My mind reels for what to say to Aaoric for his help, but it’s my heart that breaks. Summer. Will she be upset to see me go? It’s not as though we thought we’d have more than two weeks left. It’s hung between us, a snag in the fabric of our relationship.

No – not a relationship. Summer is a fling. Summer found my company because there was no one else like her here.

By that same token, there’s been no one else in my life like her.

Summer, who I hated so deeply the moment I saw her. Her searing words always knew where to land to rile me up. Every encounter, every time with just the two of us, she pushed and pulled. She dug under my skin, so much deeper than any friend ever tried.

“There’s no time, you’re already late,” Father waves his hand. He’s already leaving the room, turning his back on me while I fall apart.

But I cannot give him the satisfaction. I cannot let Mother and Father see how deeply this hurts me, because I am sure it is their goal. Of all the things they could have done they chose this. What drove them? Whatever did I do, other than obey their every whim?

It’s that last piece of me, the part I could never show them, the part they can never know about that stings the most. Holding true to that last bit of myself, the one that would never marry a male. The one that would never produce babies. Even if they were unaware of it, they hated it.

I was a failure in their eyes.

The attendant closest to me grabs my arm, but his touch is gentle. He leads me out of the sitting room, down the back staircase where I won’t possibly run into Aaoric or Summer. It’s after tea, and the servants are all in the kitchen.

No one sees me.

I don’t recall the rest of the walk to the ship – it’s all a daze. The swaying purple grass of my home waves at me, a final goodbye. If I get on this ship I’m gone forever, there will be no coming home.

But my feet still move under me, taking each damning step toward the ship. Then I am on it.

I turn to look at my Father and Mother. Mother stands at the threshold of the ship, her hand shielding her eyes from the star as she watches. Father is the only one that follows me onto the ship.

“Did you think I wouldn’t find out?” he asks. His voice is low, quiet – dangerous. I’ve heard him use this tone before with servants he’s caught stealing. It’s his victory voice, the deadly calm before the violent storm.

Summer. I must run to her, tell her Father knows of her plan. Aaoric is in danger, she’s in danger, if…

“An allowance?” he scoffs, shaking his head. “You thought you could hide our true wealth from me? All these years I was made unaware of our greatness – by my own daughter! Kept from the money that I make. Do you hear me? I am the reason for the roof over your head, for the food in your mouth, for these stupid dresses your mother insists you wear. And you repay me by curtailing my finances?”

Relief hits me, but I bury it deep. If this is his ire, then he likely has no idea about Summer. They can carry out their plan, they can remain safe.

“You reap what you sow, Gennelle. You did this to yourself. You could have married some lord, scammed him from his rightful money – but no. You knew a good thing when you saw it. Why find some poor sod when you could rip off your own father?” He spits on the ground near my feet, and I jump back.

“Enjoy the boarding school. I hear it’s miserable,” he says before leaving me at last.

The door to the ship closes, and it hums as it starts up.

It’s not until Hothin fades to a tiny dot out my window that I allow the tears to finally come.

21

SUMMER

Istretch from my afternoon nap, feeling my bones crack delightfully. There is something to be said about the life of a gentlelady. If I ever intended on becoming the marchioness, this would be my life, and it isn’t awful. Sleeping when I’m tired, food always at the ready, afternoon strolls. Over the last few months, I’ve gained back much of my strength and am no longer winded just using the stairs. The humid air no longer taxes me, and I long for the feel of it on my skin every morning.

I could get used to this place, but not if it means my freedom. I swore every night in Protegre that I would take every and any means necessary to escape. I wasn’t going to lapse on my own promise.

I dress for supper, surprised when Gennelle doesn’t come to collect me. Sometimes she wakes me from my nap, her red hair framing us both as she kisses my jaw. Other times she lets me sleep instead, curling into the sheets with me.

Sessaly helps me dress. She is distracted today, her eyes faraway. They’re red, like she’s been crying. I grab her wrist and turn to face her. Her eyes widen, a look of unabated terror in them.