They Let Me Bleed Out for My Sister's Show novel · Chapter 22 of 32

Chapter 22: The Real Burn

"I'm not putting it down," I said.

My mother's smile did not move.

"Marla," my father said. "Did you do this?"

"Russell, sit down. You're upset."

"Did you leave that buckle on the rack?"

She sighed, a small tired sound, and set her keys on the counter.

"Let me tell you how it was," she said. "Then you can decide what kind of mother I am."

"I already know," I said.

"You know what you read."

She walked to the stove and lit the burner under the kettle.

It was exactly what she would have done on any morning of my life, and it made the room feel airless.

"Cora's wolf was weak," she said. "Everyone could see. Your father had a council seat to defend, and a clinic whose director's daughter could not shift. We had one child who might. We had one who was healthy and strong, and one who was lovely."

She looked at me.

"You were so strong, Ivy. Even at ten. I drew a vial from you for a fever and I saw what was in it."

"And you saw a way to use it."

"I saw a way to keep my family together. I put the buckle on the rack. A burn, a small one. Enough that Cora would need help and you would blame yourself, and stay."

My father made a choked, stricken sound.

"I wanted her hurt a little," my mother said, plainly. "I wanted you guilty a lot."

Behind me, a floorboard creaked.

I knew it before I turned.

Cora stood on the bottom stair in a gray sweatshirt with her hair in a tangle.

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