Becca
The room still feels like it’s shaking.
Even after Stephen leaves.
Even after the door slams hard enough to echo through the entire house.
No one moves at first.
Jace is breathing steady again, but there’s blood at the corner of his mouth. His knuckles are scraped raw.
He doesn’t even look at me.
Which is… weird.
Mrs Hale smooths down her sleeve like none of that just happened.
Like her sons didn’t just try to beat each other into the floor.
“Sit,” she says calmly.
No one listens.
Nate lets out a dry laugh behind me. “Yeah, I think we’re past tea time, ma’am.”
She turns her head slightly toward him.
“And you are?”
“Nate,” he says, stepping forward. “Her brother.”
Something flickers in her eyes.
Recognition.
Approval.
“Ah,” she says. “The one with sense I remember y
