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I nodded, suppressing another cough. It was a lie. All I could taste was burning. When she offered it to me again, I only pretended to take a sip, letting only the tiniest trickle pass my lips. This time I managed to swallow it without humiliating myself.
“I don’t want this house,” I blurted out. “I don’t want any of it. If I could just… just give it to you—”
“I know that,” Persi said, if somewhat grudgingly. “This isn’t your fault, and I shouldn’t be treating you like it is.”
I blinked. I hadn’t expected an apology.
Persi laughed at my expression. “Never dreamed I could be so reasonable, did you? Sorry about that. I’ve always been the dramatic one of the Vesper sisters—shouting first and thinking afterward. It’s gotten me into a fair bit of trouble, but I’m no better at controlling my temper now than I was when I was a toddler, so I don’t expect I ever will be. I’m sure your mother’s probably told you all kinds of stories about me.”
I shook my head. “I hardly know anything about her life before me. She doesn’t like to talk about it, so eventually I stopped asking.”
Persi let out a low whistle. “My, my. I’d been prepared for demonizing, but not complete erasure. I thought I was the only one in this family who could hold a grudge like that. I can see now that I underestimated my little sister in that regard. She’s turned us into complete strangers, hasn’t she?”
I nodded. “I’m sorry. I don’t really understand why.”
“She’s trying to protect you,” Persi replied evenly, staring out over the garden, the swing creaking comfortably. “She’s wrong, of course, but that’s what she’s trying to do.”
“Protect me from what?” I asked. “I still don’t—”
“It’s not my place to tell you,” Persi said. “I might be the resident troublemaker, but I’ve made enough trouble for one day. You’re going to have to talk to your mother.”
I joined her in a moment of quiet contemplation. Just a few minutes ago, I’d thought talking to Persi would be the most challenging conversation I’d have to have here. Now I knew I’d rather face Persi’s temper a hundred times over than ask my mother to break open the defenses she’d so carefully constructed over all these years.
Except now I knew that they weren’t defenses at all. They were walls, and they were around me, not her. And I didn’t want to be walled in.
I wanted to be free. I wanted the truth.
But not now. Now my head ached, and I felt dizzy and sort of floaty from the gin. The truth could wait until tomorrow, when we’d all had a bit of time to process what had happened. My mother always used to tell me, when I was a little girl grappling with big questions at bedtime, that things would look clearer in the morning, and she was usually right. Granted, this was a much bigger conundrum than any I’d whispered to her from the stuffy-mountain of my childhood bed, but still. I thought we’d all be more reasonable after some sleep and a morning cup of coffee.
“Thanks for the gin,” I said awkwardly.
Persi smiled a tight smile. “I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t tell your mother I tried to get you drunk. She’s angry enough with me as it is.”
“Wereyou trying to get me drunk? I thought you were just testing me.”
The smile widened, and I saw how arrestingly beautiful Persephone Vesper could be when she let her guard down. “Well played.”
“And?”
Confusion swept her features. “And what?”
“Did I pass, or what?”
The smile returned. “Yeah. Yeah, you passed.”
I smiled back. “I won’t tell my mom.”
I made my way back inside and trudged up the stairs. It was barely dinner time, but my legs felt like they’d been encased in cement, and I couldn’t stop yawning. It was as though my conversation with Persi had unwound a bit of the tension that was keeping me alert, and now I couldn’t wait to crawl into my bed. I stopped at the first door on the right, which was hanging ajar. My mother had opened her suitcase on the bed and was digging through it for a pair of pajamas.
“I think I’m going to turn in,” I told her. “It’s been a long day.”
“You haven’t even had dinner yet. Rhi is—”
“I’m not hungry. I ate a late lunch downtown, remember?”
“Oh, that’s right. Well, if you’re sure…” She sank onto the bed as though the exhaustion had just that moment hit her, like a slap in the face. She patted the quilt and I crossed the room to sit next to her. “Wren, I know I have a lot of explaining to do—”
She faltered and I looked at her face, so pale, with deep blue circles under her eyes. I wanted answers so badly, but even more than that, I wanted her not to have to give them to me. Not tonight.
