Chapter 2

I remembered last month when a few young lords ambushed me behind the palaestra—the wrestling grounds. They beat me bruised and threw me straight into a filthy drainage ditch.

"Freak! Weakling!" Their laughter was sharp and cruel. "You and your crazy brother!"

"Your brother is insane, and so are you! Standing around with that dead face every day!"

When I got home, Mother caught the smell of the stagnant water. She frowned in disgust. "What is that stench? Go wash up immediately. Orion is sensitive to smells."

I hid in my room and wept for hours.

When Mother knocked on my door to ask what was wrong, I wiped my tears and said, "Nothing."

I knew that if I spoke up, Mother and Father would shower me with attention—and Orion would panic seeing their focus shift away from him.

"Orion cannot take any shock, or he will die!" The healer's words were a curse over our home.

Darkness slowly swallowed my sight.

I heard Father shouting to a messenger for the temple healers. "...Yes! Orion is having another attack! We're bringing him now!"

Hurried footsteps rushed right past me. Nobody stopped to check why I was so quiet.

"Go fetch Orion's medicine!" Mother commanded, not even looking back.

I tried to answer, but my lips wouldn't move.

"Still playing dead? See how long you can keep that up!" Father spat in anger.

My last memory drifted back to the master lyre-maker's workshop. I was packing away my silver-strung lyre and carving tools into a locked chest.

"Why are you quitting?" my master had asked in shock. "You are my most gifted musician!"

"The resonance of the strings gives my brother fits," I said, staring at the stone floor, unable to face his disappointment. "The healers said he needs absolute quiet."

Now, those locked-away dreams were dying with me.

The sound of the divine carriage wheels rattled closer outside.

"Orion! Hold on! The healers are here!" Mother cried out.

A flurry of footsteps burst through the heavy doors.

"Where is the patient?" a strange voice asked.

"Over here! Quick! My son can't take it!" Father answered desperately.

I wished so badly that someone would just look down. That someone would see a second son bleeding out on the cold marble, desperate for help.

The healers walked straight past me to the bench, carefully lifting my thrashing brother.

Nobody noticed me dying in the dark corner.

"Patients with internal bleeding can't wait..." That was the last thing I heard before the world slipped into endless night.

I floated above, staring down at my own corpse.

It was strange. I thought dying would hurt, but I only felt light.

My body lay frozen on the floor. My chest was crushed, my skin pale as ash.

The house was pure chaos.

Father shielded my screaming brother as the healers carried him out. Mother rushed right behind them with the medicine vials.

Nobody turned around for the forgotten son in the corner.

"Hurry! The carriage is waiting!" Father roared.

Mother paused for a second and looked back. "Where is he?"

"Forget him! Orion matters more!" Father snapped, rushing down the stone steps.

Mother hesitated, then ran after them.

The massive oak doors slammed shut, shaking the family mosaic on the wall.

The tiles cracked, echoing through the empty hall.

In that mosaic, Orion stood right in the center. Father and Mother held him tight, smiles beaming bright.