14

Tiv

Monday 29th January, Year 825

"You physically accosted Alayna Jameson on a crowded street!" Mother shouted for the fifth time.

I sat silently trying not to think of all of the moronic things I'd done in the last two hours.

"What were you thinking, Tiv? How on earth am I meant to face Julie?" she groaned.

I sat in her mahogany office as she paced the length of her leather-top desk. She'd been back and forth so many times I thought her black heels would erode away the silk rug beneath her feet.

"Won't you say anything, son?" she eventually pleaded.

"It was a mistake. I regret it," I replied stonily.

"That is the bare blood minimum I expect from you," she barked, continuing her pace. "What were you thinking?"

"I had upset her, I wanted to explain myself," I said.

"So you physically accosted Alayna Jameson on a crowded street." Six times. "If the papers get a hold of this your Father is going to blow a hole in the roof."

This had not eluded me.

"We'll deal with him if we need to," I said quietly.

She barked a laugh, "It's not you that has to deal with him! How much did you have to pay the Day Guard?"

"I tried to pay him off; he threatened to put me in the cells for the night. I've been given two official fines. He had a barcode. I think he knew Alayna."

She blanched, "That's even worse! No doubt he'll sell your story to the newspaper himself. Was it the same guard who escorted you home? I'll talk to his command, get him moved on."

"Mother, enough," I barked. Her eyes widened and I continued quickly before she could resume her rant. "Had Alayna not known the guard, she would have been arrested and imprisoned until her family posted bail. If she was lucky-"

"Oh of course I would not have allowed any of that," she interrupted.

"Regardless, having a guard escort me home and give out a few fines is honestly the best thing we could have hoped for."

She glared icily at me for a moment, "The best we could have hoped for? Tiv I shouldn't have to hope for any of this! What has gotten into you? You went to The Grange without any security last week! Have you lost your mind? They could have killed you!"

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"They're a lot more frightened of us than we are of them. Have you seen how they're treated?" I scoffed a laugh. "Of course you have! They're stringing up innocent people and you're letting them."

"Murderers and rapists aren't innocent people, son-"

"They killed Sarah and Lucy's father because he criticised Anthony bloody Hawes! They killed his wife for trying to intervene!"

She paused for a moment, "Who are Sarah and Lucy?"

A clenching sensation wrapped around my chest, suffocating. Of course, the names of those her sons abandoned meant nothing to her; just scabs.

A whisper escaped my lips, weighted with despair. "The girls we left behind."

Her posture deflated slightly, "I was not aware their father was on trial for anything-"

"He wasn't. He was accused of sedition; he dared to call out Father's governance in Outer Harroworth. They hanged him for it."

She paused for a moment, choosing her words carefully. "Outer Harroworth outnumbers us three to one. We cannot risk their riots spilling into Central. Sedition is serious, Tiv-"

"They hung a little girl!" I exploded. "Apparently she was an unregistered familiar. She didn't look any older than thirteen!"

Finally, Mother's voice dwindled to a whisper tinged with horror. Her lips faded to an ashen hue as she murmured, "I was unaware of that detail... I'll see what can be done."

Nodding bleakly, I cast my gaze downward. She gathered herself with an inhale of resolve before returning to her stern command.

"Until this incident is forgotten, you're confined to the house—college being your sole reprieve," she decreed.

"I'll call Alayna and-"

"You'll do no such bloody thing. You are not to talk to her until this is sorted," she interjected sharply. "Or at the very least until I've atoned with Julie's on your behalf."

"Fine." The word fell from my lips like stone.

"First you get those girls killed, now you're assailing women in the street. You're supposed to be a man grown, Tiv, not acting like a wreckless child. I thought I had done a better job," she barked.

I felt sick at the mention of Sarah and Lucy; their father vanishing beneath the smothering black hood made me bite my tongue to stifle the nausea.

"We have given you everything. We have spoiled you," she continued. "How do you expect your Father and I to find you or your brother good matches if he's in the magazines every other week with a different woman, and you're physically assaulting them in the street!"

I was fourteen the first time she mentioned my marriage prospects. It was a warped ideal she wanted for me. Probably because her marriage had failed so spectacularly.

"Mother, I think you're looking too much into this," I muttered.

I thought she might slap me for a moment however she did not.

"Tiv, this reckless endeavour to ruin your life stops now. As of this second, you are nought but a disappointment. You will rectify that. You will attend college and achieve top qualifications. You will get a job and find a decent girl to marry. I do not care if it's one of us or one of them but you will be better to her than your father is to me at a bare minimum or I will disinherit you. For now, you will keep your head down and leave Alayna and her family alone. Do you understand? Not another peep from you," she barked, storming from the room.

I reclined in the green armchair, resting my arms over my face as I drew in a deep breath.

What a mess. I was a bloody fool and it had taken Alayna a week to figure it out. With hindsight, I'd realised it was moronic not to tell her how disgusting my brother really was and simply endure his wrath when it came. I needed to speak to her but I had no notion as to what I'd say. I pulled my phone from my pocket and stared at her name for a while. Alayna had told me to leave her alone and I'd all but forced her to stay. My stomach clenched with regret and I put the phone away.