5

When Celia saw me, the fury on her face shifted again and again.

Finally she drew a deep breath. “Ivy, tell Silas to stop. Kane’s going to die.”

I smiled. “Don’t worry, sister. He knows what he’s doing.”

I gave Kane, who was struggling less and less, a long, meaningful look. “I’m not going to make you a widow.”

“Ivy!” Celia finally lost it and jabbed a finger at me.

“Aren’t you afraid Father will punish you when he finds out?”

I put on my most innocent face. “Silas is sickly. He’s always so well-behaved. He’d never start a fight with Kane. He only defended himself because he was pushed into it. Why would Father punish me?”

My voice turned cold. “Shouldn’t Kane be the one punished, for starting it?”

“You—!”

“That’s enough. Both of you, stop.”

Father’s displeased voice came suddenly from behind us.

Before Celia could start playing the victim, I burst into tears first. “Father, look at her! She’s the one at fault, and she’s turning it all around on me.”

All Celia could manage was a feeble denial. “That’s not true, Father.

“Please save Kane, he’s dying…”

Father snorted and glanced at her. “Good. Let him learn his lesson. Don’t think I don’t know what’s been going on.

“The handbook I gave you explains how to help a beastkin keep his wild side in check. And what did you do?”

His voice rose. Celia bowed her head.

“I was wrong, Father.”

“Celia, remember this. Kane is going to be your husband. Your job isn’t just to tame him. It’s to teach him and raise him. Otherwise…”

He gave her a cold look.

Celia dropped to her knees. “Yes, Father.”

Seeing Kane go completely still, Celia started crying in earnest. “Father, please, save Kane—whatever else he is… he’s my future husband, please!”

Only then did Father look at me. I said to Silas, “Let him go.”

Silas did. His tail curled around Kane’s limp body and flung him away hard.

Kane slammed into the apple tree, and a shower of petals came down.

I hurried over to help Silas up. He seemed to have used up every bit of strength he had. He couldn’t even pull his tail back in, and he couldn’t stand at all. He leaned weakly against me.

Father snorted. “I didn’t buy you beastkin so you could kill each other. If it happens again, you’re out of this family!”

Celia went white. She clearly hadn’t expected a punishment that harsh.

“I understand, Father.”

After Father left, Celia called servants to carry Kane back.

Looking at Kane’s purple face, I asked, “Are you going to let the poison kill him?”

Silas’s voice was icy. “I’m not going to make trouble for myself.”

I turned to look at him. All the deference and eagerness to please he’d shown me were gone from his face. There was nothing left but endless coldness, those slitted pupils cool and indifferent.

So this was who he really was.

Suddenly, Silas went limp, his head drooping onto my shoulder as if he had nothing left.

I didn’t buy it.

But if you’re going to put on a show, you might as well go all the way.

So I wrapped one arm under his cold tail and the other around his waist, and lifted him up.

“You…”

Silas looked at me, startled, and his tail shifted uncomfortably.

“Don’t wiggle.”

I carried him back to his room, where the doctor was already waiting.

When the doctor set Silas’s broken ribs, he went white with pain, and the scales on his tail flared open and shut. It made my skin crawl.

I turned around and rubbed my arms.

Before long, the doctor had dressed his wounds, given me some instructions, and left.

I looked at that pale white tail. “You really can’t put it away?”

Silas pressed his lips together. While I watched, he drew his tail back in, and it became a pair of human legs again.

It really was kind of amazing.

My eyes moved slowly upward. Those slitted pupils, not yet back to normal, were fixed on me without blinking.

“Why?”

He was asking why I hadn’t stepped in at the start.

I smiled. “Have you ever heard the saying?”

“What saying?”

“Trust has to go both ways.”

“If you won’t trust me, don’t expect me to trust you.”