My brows furrowed as I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear so I could see him better out of the corner of my eye. “Why not?”
“Because I keep those that I love close to me, and I love him the most.”
Isaiah stopped walking and tilted his head up past the trees. I did the same, and a short gasp left my lips. The tall, looming trees that were crowding us during our short walk were no longer blocking the light of the night sky. A million little stars twinkled and sparkled above our heads as if they were putting a show on for us. “That’s…beautiful.”
His voice was rough. “Agreed.” I turned away from the stars and caught Isaiah staring directly at me. My heart jolted as if it had reached up and touched one of the stars in the sky. Heat warmed my cheeks as I quickly glanced away.
Isaiah moved past me a few yards and rested his back along one of the thick tree stumps, kicking a leg up behind him as he crossed his arms over his chest. I stayed in the same spot, too nervous and consumed by the heat creeping into every little crevice of my body to do much more.
“The only people who know about Jack are the Rebels and, of course, my uncle.” I opened my mouth to tell him that he didn’t need to tell me anything, but he stopped me. “He’s nine. Looks just like me, only with a goofy smile and the world’s most hideous fucking glasses. He looks like Harry Potter.”
I took a small step toward him. “Who’s
Harry Potter?”
Dark hair flopped on his head as he jerked. “Tell me you’re kidding.”
Now it was my turn to cross my arms over my chest as I shot him a disapproving stare. “I already told you I had a sheltered childhood.”
He kicked off of the tree. “We must rectify this immediately.” He paused before pointing at me. “And if you tell anyone I’m a Harry Potter junkie, I’ll tell them just how much you like sitting bareass on the tables in the dining hall.”
My mouth flung open. “You wouldn’t!”
His brow flicked upward as if challenging me, and I rolled my eyes.
“Whatever. I won’t tell anyone.” I breezed past him and took his spot on the tree, resting my back against it. “But there’s no need to threaten me. You could have just told me not to tell anyone, and I wouldn’t have.”
A sly smile curved on his face. “I know, but then I wouldn’t get to see you blush.”
“It’s too dark to see me blush.”
“Not true.” He pointed a finger up to the stars and moon gleaming over us, and I clamped my lips together.
“Back to Jack,” I reminded him, still feeling the heat simmer in my cheeks.
“There’s not much more to tell that you didn’t already hear. Jack is my little brother, and he’s really the only thing I’ve ever loved, besides my older brother who…”
Wait. He had an older brother too?
He sighed, running a hand through his hair again. Talking about his older brother was obviously difficult for him. “I don’t talk to my older brother anymore. But Jack…I’m really all he has.”
I nodded gently as I empathized with a child who I’d never met and probably never would. My brother was all I had, too, as a child. I bet Jack missed him so much. “He’s lucky to have you.”
“He was until my father sent me here. Now he’s alone.”
I shook my head but stopped myself as earlier thoughts washed away my previous question. “Is that why you’re so adamant about staying here? At St. Mary’s?” I jolted forward as puzzle pieces clicked together. Cade had mentioned Jack earlier when Isaiah and I had stepped out of the dining hall after he’d almost lost it. “You’re protecting him.” My sentence came out in a whisper as my throat began to close up. “Did…did your father threaten your brother? To keep you here to watch Bain?”
That was absurd. Right? Parents didn’t do things like that to their children. Did they? My earlier statement had filtered in. It had nothing to do with flesh and blood…some people are just bad. I’d always had the thought that Richard was so mean to Tobias and me because we weren’t his real family. That he could punish us in such inconceivable ways because he didn’t hold that unconditional amount of love that parents were supposed to have for their children. Richard raised us. He was the only parental figure that we had, but he didn’t see us as his children. Or even as his niece and nephew.
I wasn’t a mother, so I couldn’t understand the concept of unconditional love, and the memories of my own mother were so blurry that I couldn't be sure, but I was pretty certain that parents were supposed to protect and love their children above all else. I’d lived with a real-life example of that. Anne, Richard’s mother, had loved him even when he hit her and put her down. She had loved him even knowing his plans for me. She had loved him even through his many, many faults.
That was a prime example of unconditional love, but it was apparent that not all parents were like that. I was right earlier. Flesh and blood had nothing to do with it. Some people were just bad.
“Yes. That’s why I can’t get expelled. He’s using my little brother as leverage.”
Isaiah’s answer startled me. I jumped, scratching the back of my thighs against the tree bark.
Shock rippled through me again, and I wasn’t even sure why. I knew bad people existed in the world, just like I knew that not all children had a loving home. All the love I had growing up was a fake rendition of such, and you didn’t break the things you loved.