SERAPHINA’S POV
Ethan’s grip wasn’t rough, but it was firm, unyielding.
Rain streaked down his face, making his expression hard to read. For once, though, there was sothing softer in his eyes—hesitation, maybe even regret.
“I’ll drive you ho,” he said simply.
The offer stunned more than my mother’s slap, more than Celeste’s accusation. For a mont, I just stared at him, blinking water from my lashes.
Sothing twisted in my chest. Old wounds and fresh ones colliding. I wanted to tell him to let go, to leave in the rain, to let dissolve until there was nothing left.
I yanked my arm back. “No, thank you.” My voice ca out sharper than I ant, but I didn’t soften it.
“If you’re planning another lecture, Ethan, don’t bother. I’m not in the mood. And if you try anyway, well—” I gave him a look that was equal parts warning and promise, “—I can fight back now.”
He didn’t flinch. If anything, he looked...almost amused. “I don’t doubt it,” he said. “Maya never stops praising you. Says you’re her most outstanding student. If anyone can take down these days, it’s probably you.”
I blinked, caught off guard by the lack of sarcasm. His tone was matter-of-fact, not mocking.
Still, I folded my arms. “Then all the more reason for you to step aside. Go back to Celeste. She’s the one lying in a hospital bed, not .”
“I know she’ll be fine,” he said without hesitation.
The certainty in his voice startled , and I arched a brow. “You sound very sure for soone whose sister just got hit by a car.”
“I’m sure,” he said again, this ti more quietly, so I had to strain to hear him over the pouring rain.
Then his gaze cut back to , unwavering. “And for what it’s worth, I don’t believe you pushed her.”
The words hit like a blow. Not because I needed his validation—I didn’t, not anymore—but because it had been so long since anyone in that family had believed anything I had to say.
I tried to laugh, but it ca out brittle. “That’s perfect then. That undoes all the years of scorn and disdain.”
He didn’t rise to the barb. Instead, he just nodded toward his car parked at the curb. “Co on. The state you’re in—you shouldn’t go ho alone.”
I swiped a wet clump of hair from my face. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not,” he said gently.
“Maya will kill if I let you walk ho in the pouring rain. And...” He hesitated, as though swallowing sothing difficult. “It’s my duty. As your brother.”
The word brother stuck in my ears like a burr. My brother.
When had he ever acted like one? Why was he now choosing to stay by my side instead of Celeste’s after all these years?
My instinct was to refuse, to walk into the rain and prove I didn’t need any of them.
But my body was betraying —my legs were shaky, my chest tight.
The cold was already seeping into my bones, and the thought of standing on a curb waiting for a cab in this storm suddenly felt unbearable.
“Fine,” I muttered, brushing past him toward his car. “But if I even sll a reprimanding speech, I’m throwing myself out of the door.”
He chuckled. “Then you and Celeste can be roommates.”
I spun around and shot him a look, and he imdiately clamped his mouth shut, his lips twitching from the effort.
I turned away before he could see fight my own smile.
The interior slled faintly of leather and sothing familiar. Maya, I realized with a grudging smile.
I slid into the passenger seat, dripping rain onto the floor mat. Ethan got in on his side, started the engine, and instantly turned up the heat.
“Here,” he said, handing a thick sweatshirt from the backseat.
I took it gratefully and pulled it on, hugging my arms around myself.
For a while, the only sound was the swish of wipers cutting through the storm.
Then Ethan reached forward and fiddled with the knob of the stereo. Monts later, music filled the space, soft at first.
I frowned. It was...familiar.
The lody filled the car, soft and lancholy—echoing from so distant mory. Gentle guitar picking, a tender voice that had seed to understand everything I couldn’t say aloud.
Not exactly what I’d choose now, but the kind of thing I used to play late at night, headphones clamped over my ears, letting the lodies carry away the restless hum of my own thoughts.
I glanced at him. “Really? You listen to Fleetwood Mac?”
His mouth twitched, not quite a smile. “I wasn’t sure what you liked anymore. Paxton ntioned you used to listen to this. Thought it was worth a try.”
That stopped . Paxton—our old butler.
He’d been one of the few constants in the Lockwood Manor, growing up. One of the few people who showed kindness in the quiet, unnoticed small ways that mattered. Who didn’t treat as less-than.
My throat tightened. “That was a long ti ago.”
“I know.” Ethan’s hands tightened on the wheel. “After the...” He cleared his throat. “...cinnamon raspberry incident, I’ve been trying to rember things. Trying to see them differently.”
I gave a short, humorless laugh. “What’s this, so sudden bout of brotherly guilt? Or are you just hoping that if you play the right song, I’ll march back into that hospital room and apologize to Celeste?”
His head turned toward briefly, his expression unreadable in the glow of the dashboard lights. “No,” he said, firmly. “That’s not it.”
I snorted. “Sure, okay.”
“I’m serious, Sera.” His voice had an edge now, not sharp but intense, like he needed to hear him. “I’ve started to realize how many mistakes I made. How much I let myself be blinded. We’re brother and sister, and we’ve spent so many years acting otherwise. I don’t want to spend whatever ti we have left resenting each other.”
Sothing in twisted at the sincerity I thought I heard there. But I shoved it down. “So what, this is your redemption arc? Tell you believe now, and all is forgiven?”
“I don’t expect forgiveness,” he said. “I don’t even know if I deserve it. I just...” His jaw tightened, his gaze fixed firmly on the road.
“I know you—I know you think I don’t, but I do. And sure, lately you’ve changed. You’ve beco reclusive, difficult, even sharp-edged, but you’ve never been cruel. You would never hurt soone on purpose.”
My eyes narrowed. “Do you hear yourself? If I’ve beco sharp-edged and difficult, it’s because you all made that way.”
He nodded. “I won’t argue that. But what I said stands. You would never hurt anyone, Sera. That isn’t you.”
The words made want to look away, but I couldn’t. My chest hurt, like he was prying open a wound I’d buried under scar tissue.
“You really think that?” My voice was low, harsh. “That I’m incapable of cruelty? You literally just said I changed—you can’t tell up to what extent. You’d be surprised what soone can learn to stomach when they’re pushed far enough.”
Because here’s the deep, unnerving truth: If I’d been standing in front of Celeste at that mont, and I’d seen the car rushing down the street, I don’t know that I wouldn’t have pushed her.
I didn’t know what to do with that.
He shook his head. “Not you. So things don’t change, Sera. Not the core of who we are. I rember you refusing to eat chicken for weeks because you saw one killed in the yard. You cried yourself sick over it. That’s not soone who would shove her sister into the path of a car.”
The mory hit like a sucker punch, vivid and embarrassing. My younger self, devastated over sothing so small.
I felt exposed, as if he’d reached in and dragged out a version of I hadn’t allowed myself to rember in years.
“Maybe that girl’s gone,” I whispered.
“Maybe she’s not,” he said quietly.
Silence stretched. The wipers squeaked back and forth. My reflection in the rain-streaked window looked pale, tired, unrecognizable even to .
Part of still wanted to lash out, to accuse him of ulterior motives, to spit that I wasn’t stupid enough to fall for a change of heart this late in the ga.
But another part—smaller, quieter—just felt tired. Too tired to keep sorting through the sincerity and the lies.
So I leaned my head back against the seat, closing my eyes. “Whatever, Ethan. Believe what you want. Right now, I just want to get ho.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” he said, and for once, he didn’t push further.
We drove the rest of the way in uneasy quiet, the storm softening to a drizzle outside, and I could almost imagine that it was a reflection of the ease in the atmosphere between us.
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