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It’s been two days since I got the news. Is he better? Is he worse? I have no way of knowing. I tried calling my parents, even Aggie, but nobody answered.
It shouldn’t surprise me after all this time, but it still manages to sting. After all, it wasn’t them who told me what happened to Toby. The hospital called the Headmaster of the Academy. Because they know me. They know I’d want to be here.
They know me better than my own family does, or cares to.
My brother’s hand is cold. I know the hospital air is to blame for that, but I hate how still he is. Under the blankets, I see bandages and a cast on his left arm.
“Toby,” I whisper again.
“What’s this? Everyone out, you’re not allowed…” My sister Agatha strolls inside, a cup of coffee in her hands, and stops dead. “Ashton? That you?”
“In the flesh.” I twist my head to look at her. She appears the same as ever, composed, impeccably dressed and coiffed, balancing perfectly on her high heels.
“Who are all these people? I’m pretty sure they’re not allowed in here.”
“They’re my friends,” I say and I believe it before I remember that it’s not really true.
She places the cup on a plastic table and straightens, her spine stiff. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see Toby. What else?”
“Why the sudden interest?”
Anger seeps through the numbness. “What the hell, Aggie?”
“All this time, all these years he waited and waited for you … You never came to visit.”
“You know why I can’t come home.”
“You leave it on us to be there instead of you.”
“It’s not the same and you know it. Youknowit, sis.” I get up from the bed, my hands curling into fists. The cut in my wrist pulls and burns under the bandage. “You never returned my calls. And I had to see him.”
She walks around the bed to the other side, brushes a gentle hand over Toby’s forehead. “Well, you saw him now. Goodbye.”
“Why are you so mean to him?” It’s Mia, eyes blazing. “You’re his sister but you didn’t give a damn about how he feels.”
Aggie turns to glance at her and laughs. “You brought your little girlfriend with you for support?”
“Actually…” Sindri leans against the wall, folds his arms over his chest. “He brought his boyfriends, too.”
I choke.
Emrys curses.
Aggie’s eyes go round. “What?”
“Ignore them.” I glower at the fae-boy. “Tell me what the doctors said. Will Toby be okay?”
An elegant shrug. “They’re hopeful.”
“Dammit. Not good enough. I…” I have to swallow hard past the lump in my goddamn throat. Why the hell are my eyes stinging like that? “He has to get well,” I say hoarsely. “Fuck…”
“Ash…” She takes a step toward me, her eyes gentling. “Hey.”
“Father gave him that motorcycle just like he did with me. He wants to get rid of us.”
“You remindpapaof himself,” she says. “He’s afraid you’ll take the throne from him.”
