Chapter 4

When the dinner started, Lucian noticed something was wrong with my face and helped me inside to sit down.

He saw how pale I was and assumed I was cold, so he draped a wool coat over my shoulders. "Elena is only sulking. Don't take it to heart."

Every time he ordered clothes from a tailor, he told them not to use wool. But today was the one day he forgot I was allergic to it.

"If Cassie won't wear it, will you put it on me instead?" Elena said, sweet and coaxing.

The guests teased us. "Those two were closest of anyone as children, and now that the younger one's home, the older one's jealous. Cassie was spoiled from the start. Of course she should give way to a sister who's suffered."

Marcus put a pen in my hand. "Sign the agreement, apologize to Elena, and this is over for good."

The agreement was pushed in front of me again.

I shook my head, stubborn. "My grandmother left that to me." My father was out of patience. "Stop being willful, Cassie. Nobody has time for your scenes today. Sign it and nobody will stop you."

Elena made a show of pleading. "Mom, Dad, Cassie must be angry with me. Let her calm down by herself for a while."

The four of them shut me in the bedroom together. Marcus looked at me. "You come out when you admit what you did."

Lucian poured me a cup of hot water and put his hand on my forehead. "Keep faking all you want, you can't fool a thermometer. Stop lying to us."

"Take me to the hospital." There was almost no breath behind it.

"Sign and I'll take you." As he turned, I caught his sleeve with the last of my strength, but Elena called "Lucian" from outside the door, and he never looked back at me again. "Elena's upset. I'm going to her first. Think about what you've done. When your attitude is right, I'll come see you."

The door closed softly, and then it was locked from the outside. The pain in my head knocked me out. When I opened my eyes, the laughter outside was still going. I still had my emergency transmitter in the room. I had pressed one digit when the door was shoved open.

Elena crossed the room fast and tore the handset out of my grip. "Still trying to call someone? Cassie, do you have to humiliate me on my very first day back?"

"Give it back." I reached for it, but she shoved me down.

She stared at my bloodless face and threw the handset straight out the window. "I'm not giving you a chance to call for help."

The door was bolted again.

I don't know how long it was before the noise outside finally stopped. Lucian came in leading Elena by the hand, my parents and Marcus behind them.

"Cassie, have you thought it over?" Marcus patted my cheek. "Stop playing sick. Your last physical came back completely normal. We're not falling for it." By then I was cold all through and my mind was drifting apart.

Lucian sat on the edge of the bed. "Look how understanding Elena is. She's the one who asked me to come calm you down. Sign, give her the port land, and you and I go on just as we were."

My mother soothed me softly. "Your sister has nothing. Of course you should yield to her." My father agreed. "Don't think playing sick gets you out of it. It won't."

Elena leaned into Lucian's chest. "Does Cassie hate me? Fine, I don't want the port. If I'd known, I wouldn't have come back at all, and then I wouldn't have upset her."

"Nonsense." Lucian pulled her closer and looked at me with nothing but disappointment. "Are you only happy if you tear this Family apart?"

On the bed, I didn't answer at all. He reached out and shook me, his voice as gentle as ever. "Enough now."

But my body slid off the bed onto the floor.

Lucian went to lift me up, and his hand happened to touch my pulse. He froze where he stood.