Reborn, I Let My Sister Take the Poisoned Crown novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: Be Careful, Sister

Sorrel crossed the room with her arms out.

She put them around me, and she smelled of lavender soap and the silver band, and I stood stiff as a post.

"Nev," she said into my shoulder. "Oh, Nev, you came."

"I came."

"I told you not to."

"You did. Twice."

She held me at arm's length and looked at my face, and her eyes were wet.

"You look terrible," she said. "Have you been eating? I wrote to Edric to make sure you were eating."

"Sorrel."

"I'm so frightened for you. The Council is looking for an impostor, and the guard thinks it's some girl from the laundry." She squeezed my hands. "You have to go home tonight. I can have a cart at the kitchen gate."

I looked at her hands.

They were small, with the same square nails as mine.

"I found a paper," I said. "In Greyback Pass. It says you asked the Council to make my share of the crown larger."

Her face did not change.

Not for one heartbeat.

"What paper?"

"It has your hand on it."

"Oh, Nev." She let go and put her palm to her mouth. "That man in the grey cloak. He's a liar and a forger, he's the one who sold me the potion, I should never have trusted him. He told me they needed a signature to protect you, and I signed what he gave me."

"Protect me."

"He said the crown would take half from a sister at home if I didn't. I thought it would make it less."

She was crying now, easy and quiet, the way she had cried when we were nine and she broke the milk jug.

I had held her in my arms every time, and I wanted to now.

I did not.

"You said half," I said. "I never told you how much."

← Chapter 16 · All chapters · Chapter 18 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend