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Somehoith two less people in the back of the limousine, it seems infinitely smaller

Tristan is across frome with one arm laid across the back of the leather seat, his jaw bunched like he’s chewing on metal In the darkness of the vehicle, held captive in the intensity of my stepbrother’s stare, I feel vulnerable Exposed in my threadbare dress

“Are you overwhelmed, Cate?”

His deep voice alainst the seat Just so I can close ruff, cultured quality of it s me like a wave “Yes,” I whisper “I don’t want to disappoint anybody”

The limousine pulls out of the driveway and turns down a tree-lined avenue, silent, dotted with towering streetlah for me to see his frown “You’ve been left to fend for yourself in a hovel and you’re worried about being a disappointment? Perhaps you should be disappointed in the adults who allowed that to happen”

“I ah I don’t knohy it feels like a secret I’ on “Just this past May”

Slowly, his fingers curl into a fist where they rest on the seat “I see” It takes him a moment to continue “Still, that wasn’t always the case, was it?”

“No It wasn’t But I done just fine and kept on breathing” I studyat theether, the way I watched my mother do on the plane ride Ladylike “Tristan?”

Is that a shiver that passes though him? “Yes?”

I hedge for a few seconds “Did et me ’cause she missed me? Or ’cause she orried it’d hurt your career if people found out I was all alone down in the marsh?”

A single brow raises “She missed you” A pause “And it would hurt my career”

“So…both?”

Tristan inclines his head, thoughthe admission seems to trouble him

I nod, accepting that infor not to be conflicted over it Of course there’s a reason theyht Just like there’s a reason they’re going to keep s and dress me up I’m not one of them yet But do I want to be?

Already, I’ and fireflies

For the creaky floorboards of my house