Chapter 15
Two years after the engagement, I attended one of Finnian’s school science evenings.
Not because I was family.
Because he invited me.
The invitation was handmade.
Dinosaurs again.
I sat in the back.
No bodyguards beside me.
Rafe waited outside and complained.
Finnian presented a model volcano.
He stuttered badly on the first sentence.
A few children shifted.
My body tightened.
Then he stopped.
Breathed.
Started again.
No one laughed.
His teacher waited.
Adela smiled.
He continued.
Not perfectly.
Completely.
That distinction mattered.
Afterward he ran over.
“Did you see?”
“Yes.”
“I forgot part.”
“I noticed.”
His face fell.
Then I added:
“You kept going.”
He brightened.
Good.
He asked:
“Were you scared?”
“Of the volcano?”
“No. Me.”
I thought.
“A little.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted it to go well for you.”
He nodded.
“Me too.”
Simple.
Then he said:
“But if bad, still okay.”
That stopped me.
A child had learned something half the adults around Blackwell still struggled with.
Failure does not equal exile.
Mistake does not equal humiliation.
Disagreement does not equal betrayal.
A bad sentence does not erase the next one.
Maybe that was why Coralie’s cruelty had been so effective initially.
She exploited a fear powerful families already worshipped.
Perform correctly or lose position.
May you like
Finnian had escaped that logic before the rest of us.
Good for him.
