Silver in the Bone (Silver in the Bone #1)(19)
Author: Alexandra Bracken

 

“He was meeting a sorceress,” I explained. “She survived the encounter and went on to die and create an Immortality that Trust Fund destroyed. But I think if we go back to Tintagel, we might find something we missed before. Nash might have hidden something there for us to find.”

 

“Stop,” Cabell said sharply. “Just . . . stop. Do you even hear yourself? Think about it, Tamsin. It’s obvious what happened. The sorceress took the dagger, and then she killed him. That’s why he didn’t come back. The only question left is what she did with his body. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to have to live with knowing we could have saved him—like I have all these years.”

 

He was right. That was the most obvious and logical conclusion to draw. But I wasn’t about to let logic beat me in a fight.

 

“That’s not a reason to not tell me,” I said. “And that’s not the only explanation. Nash could have been cursed to lose his memory or be trapped somewhere. If there’s even a chance he’s alive, we have to find him and the ring first, or someone else will finish him off to get it.”

 

“He’s dead,” Cabell said. “Let me say that again: He. Is. Dead.”

 

The words smothered that tiny flame of hope I’d kept burning.

 

“So he’s dead. It doesn’t mean the Ring of Dispel isn’t out there. We can try to retrace his steps, figure out who killed the sorceress.” Cabell was shaking his head, and the sight made my throat tighten and my voice rise with desperation. “We could find the ring and barter with Madrigal to have her use it on you.”

 

“Barter with a sorceress?” Cabell scoffed. “Grow up, Tamsin. This isn’t a fairy tale. There are no joyful family reunions, magical saviors, or happily-ever-afters. There’s just this.”

 

He gestured to the thatch of hair on the back of his hand. I stared at him, and as the moments passed in silence, the pit of my stomach began to hollow and twist.

 

Eventually, he let out a humorless laugh. “You don’t get it. I don’t even have the choice to give up. It’s obvious where this is going. It’s been obvious for years, but you’ve been too stubborn to accept it.”

 

“It’s not obvious!” I said. “I know it’s hard to believe in the possibility, but this is the best lead we’ve had.”

 

“You don’t know a damn thing,” Cabell spat. “Tell me, what’s so great about this life that I have to fight to stay in it, Tamsin?”

 

I drew in a sharp breath, struggling to keep my blood from heating to a boil.

 

“If you’ve known about the ring all this time . . . if you’ve felt this way for years . . . why let me research ways to break the curse?” I demanded. “Why let me test out theory after theory on you?”

 

“I never understood why you kept rereading all those books when your memory is perfect.” He shrugged, and it was the most heartless thing I’d ever seen my brother do. “But it kept you busy, and it seemed to make you feel better.”

 

“Me?” I said, drawing back.

 

“You know what your problem is?” Cabell said, seeming to relish my discomfort as he took a long sip of his beer. “You think you can control everything and that’ll keep bad things from happening, but the world doesn’t work that way, Tamsin. You’re just as powerless as the rest of us. Actually, you’re even more powerless, which makes it even sadder.”

 

“So just to clarify, you don’t care if I go after Nash and the ring?” I said. “You don’t care that Hollowers and sorceresses are going to be looking for us in order to find him? You want no part of it, and it doesn’t matter to you at all?”

 

“It doesn’t,” Cabell said, pushing up to his feet and moving toward the front door, “because I doubt you’ll make it far, given that you don’t have the One Vision. But go ahead and try. See how far you get with Ignatius. You live your life however the hell you want to, and it’s high time I start doing the same.”

 

“Stop it,” I said, barely getting the words out. “You sound just like—”

 

“Like who?” Cabell snapped, sliding on his boots. “Like Nash?”

 

I flinched.

 

“At least he went out doing what he wanted,” Cabell said, reaching for the leather jacket he’d inherited from our guardian. “And if I haven’t got much time left until the curse takes me, that’s exactly what I’m going to do, too. I’m done wasting time and I’m done pretending any of it matters just because you’re scared to death of being alone.”

 

I bit my tongue until I tasted blood.

 

“You really are just like him,” I said, standing. If he was going to hurt me, I could hurt him right back. “You throw up your hands the second it gets hard.”

 

“And yet you’re the one chasing after him,” Cabell shot back. “Pretending like you’re doing it for me. For the ring.”

 

I froze.

 

“Of course this has nothing to do with you wanting to find him,” Cabell continued. “It has nothing to do with us staying in Boston, even though he claimed that’s where they left you. What were you expecting? That one of your deadbeat parents would see you out on the street? Recognize you? Regret ever dumping you off like—”

 

A searing heat sliced through my chest.

 

“Do not,” I warned him, “finish that sentence.”

 

Cabell gripped the doorknob but didn’t move.

 

“You are my only family,” I told him. “I’m going after the ring as soon as the Sorceress Grinda sends someone to pick up the locket we recovered for her. She said it would be tonight.”

 

Cabell didn’t even acknowledge that I’d spoken.

 

“There are too many people after the ring to wait—and too many people who suspect Nash was the last to have it,” I said. “If you won’t help me, at least pack a bag and try to disappear until this is all over.”

 

“I’ll do you one better and not come back at all.” He opened the door and stepped out. Either his voice was a whisper, or I imagined his last words as he brushed past: “Love you.”

 

“Don’t die,” I told him anyway.

 

The door slammed shut.

 

My knees felt like they were made of sand. I sat heavily on the edge of the wooden coffee table and finished off the last of his beer.