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My eyes went dark as I watched the whole crowd of them vanish into the night.
The courtyard glowed warm and bright, yet a chill crept over my whole body as I stood alone in the middle of the living room.
I don't know how long it took before I came back to myself and walked, step by step, toward the guest room they had thrown together for me.
The room was elegant enough, clean, white gauze curtains pooling on the floor, a thick cashmere rug soft and yielding under my feet.
Compared to Dragon Cove, where I broke my back growing herbs and slept in a straw shed when I was worn out, this was a world better.
But I knew perfectly well that Aaron's room was the master suite, the finest on the second floor, that the cashmere rug ran the whole length of the hallway up there, that his private walk-in closet was bigger than this guest room.
To them, a room like this was already generous. They hadn't shortchanged me on anything.
The truth was I didn't blame them either. But this was family, the family I'd waited twenty years for, and something in me still ached with disappointment.
I lay back on the soft, wide bed, exhausted, staring out at the flowering silk tree beyond the courtyard, its branches heavy with leaves, pink petals drifting down.
In that daze, I remembered my mother holding me under a tree when I was small, murmuring softly,
"Our little Lance is Mama's prettiest treasure, the son Mama loves most."
My eldest sister ran over and pressed a stick of cotton candy into my hands, her childish face all seriousness.
"Little brother, when you grow up I'll give you all the best things. I'll protect you from now on. We'll fight off the bad people together."
Those hazy memories circled through my mind again and again, and for twenty years they had made me long to be with them.
Long to throw myself into their arms and say,
"Mom, Dad, big sister, Lance is home."
"Mom, Dad, big sister, Lance missed you so much. I dreamed of finding you."
Half-asleep, it seemed a silk-tree blossom had fallen against my face, a small patch of wet cold.
Then a searing pain tore across it. I jolted upright, clapped both hands to my face, and let out a raw, agonized scream.
The scalding sting swallowed my whole face in an instant, every pain in me gathering there at once and then spreading out into my arms and legs.
I bolted off the bed, clamping my cheeks with both hands, then rolled onto the floor, howling in pain.
My eldest sister's voice came cold beside me. Charlene's voice.
"You brought this on yourself." Each word was frozen, cutting to the bone.
"I never wanted to do anything to you. But you just couldn't keep your place, always turning on Aaron, fighting him at every step."
"Aaron has a kind heart. He couldn't stand to see Mom and Dad hurt, so now he's lying in that hospital refusing treatment. He'd rather die than keep the place of the Floyd family's eldest son from you."
She crouched down and wrenched my hands away from my face, staring at the raw pulp of my cheeks without a flicker of pity, only the satisfaction of a score settled.
"Aaron Floyd, let's see now, with your face ruined, turned into a monster, whether you'll still dare to covet what was never yours."
"Let's see how you fight Aaron after this. Whether you'll still dare to bully him."
My howling brought my father and mother rushing back. The moment they pushed the door open, the color drained from their faces.
My father's always-composed face turned to frost in a single beat.
"Charlene Floyd, you wretched girl."
He roared and lunged, seized her, and cracked his palm across her face.
"Lance is your own brother. You could do something this vicious, ruining his face with acid? Is this how a big sister behaves?"
In his fury my father kicked her into the corner.
He was shouting, out of his mind with rage.
"Gabriel Lambert, bring the family rod. Today I'll beat this heartless, unnatural girl to death."
Charlene had her own kind of spine. She dropped to the floor with a thud, stiffened her neck, and said,
"Today, even if you beat me to death, I'd still throw this bottle of acid."
"He's not my sweet little brother anymore. He's just a selfish, greedy hick. Look what he's driven Aaron to. Do you want him to destroy the whole Floyd family?"
My father froze. For a second his eyes wavered, then the fury took him again, and he brought the whip down hard across her back.
"Even so, you don't throw acid. He's your own brother."
