Page 52 of Summer

“I’m sorry Gennelle…your parents, they’re dead,” Summer says softly, placing a hand on my arm.

Dead? Surely not. And both of them? Unlikely. It’s a trick, something Father has pulled in his paranoia. I laugh, because what else am I supposed to do?

“That was my same reaction,” Aaoric says, grinning. He vibrates with joy and I know at once he’s not lying. He is the duke – our parents are dead.

“It was rather…tragic,” Summer allows.

“How did it happen?” I muster.

Summer leads me to a seat on the ship, never once letting go of my arm. It’s the support I need to stay tethered to this place, to the real world – no longer in that school. Had it only been two weeks? It felt like eternity.

“Once you left the estate, the duke began to purchase all sort of things,” Summer says. I grit my teeth, remembering his parting words. “Including a motorized bicycle, which he lost control of and ran into a carriage.”

“And that killed him? And Mother?” I asked, confused.

“Well – the carriage caught fire, and then it…exploded,” Summer adds sheepishly. The escape plan. The wooden carriage we’d dug out of storage and planned to line with accelerant. The one Summer would wire to explode and work as her fake death.

Instead, the cause of death of our parents.

“What a wonderful accident,” I say at last. “If the carriage was intact, that means…you did not make it to the altar?” I guess.

Summer grins and shakes her head.

“After the death of both his parents in a tragic accident? Of course not. The Duke of Vestinhoth has a lot to plan in the coming months,” Summer titters.

“Such as?” I ask, raising an eyebrow at Aaoric.

“Well, first of all, I need to get my estate back in order. It turns out Father made a real mess of it in the fortnight you were gone. I knew immediately I had to return my sister and estate manager to her proper place. The school was loaning you from Father.” Aaoric scoffs and shakes his head.

“And you – you’re free now,” I turn to Summer.

“Yes, free to go if I please,” she agrees, leaning back in her seat.

So, this was her goodbye – picking me up from that awful school, escorting me home and then leaving.

“And when do you leave?” I ask.

She shoots me a devilish grin, followed by a noncommittal shrug. “I haven’t decided. I’ve found a bit of a home in Hothin,” she says.

“Is that so?” I ask.

“Yes. I found something worth settling down,” she says, before pulling me close to kiss me.

EPILOGUE - SUMMER

Sessaly fusses with my dress, and I resist the urge to slap her hands away.

“Quit – you’re not my maid,” I chide. She grins, handing me my gloves. It’s so reminiscent of another day, just a few months ago, where she stood at my side like this.

“True, but I still worry you’re going to mess this dress up,” she says. It’s taken her some time to open up to Gennelle and me. I don’t blame her; she spent the last few years as a servant in the house she’s now the lady of.

“Shouldn’t you be helping Gennelle?” I ask.

“She didn’t accept my help before, what makes you think she will now?” Sessaly has a point. Gennelle spends two weeks learning to sweep and mop and thinks that’s enough to be independent of all help. Now that time has passed, we can joke about her short stay in Frindun, though I know it sometimes haunts her.

Just as Protegre haunts me, though I am far from their reach.

“Very well,” I allow and straighten a pin in my hair. “How do I look?” I ask.