FIVE.
While her younger sister and mother were still processing everything that had just happened, Selene Rosethorne got up and followed her sister. Though Cinder moved through the manor silently, Selene knew the only place her sister could have been heading was her bedroom — Cinder was too tactically minded to leave the house with nothing but the clothes on her back — and she knew the exact route her sister would take through the kitchen, across the hall of Rosethornes past, and up a tight stairwell at the back of the house. The two had traversed that path together many times.
Selene followed her sister diligently, catching the slightest glimpse of her at the top of the stairs just as she arrived at the bottom. She charged up the stairs without hesitation. She knew her mother had called Cinder a traitor to the Rosethorne family, and that Cinder herself had all but renounced the name, and her sense of pride in her family was admittedly wounded by that, but Selene was nonetheless intent on steering her sister back towards reason.
That seemed a difficult task, if not outright impossible. Selene was shrewd enough to know that when someone made their position clear — and Cinder had made hers very, very clear — and showed they were unwilling to listen to further discourse — storming out of dinner was a hell of a way to do that — trying to talk to that someone would only be a waste of time. And if it was anyone else, she wouldn’t have even bothered.
But this was her sister. And damn it, Selene wasn’t about to let her sister walk out of her life without a fight.
“Cinder!” she shouted as she reached the top of the stairs and looked down the hallway to her and her sisters’ bedrooms. “Wait—!”
Cinder looked back. The intimidating hostility in her eyes screamed, Don’t try it. Don’t say anything. Just… leave me the f*** alone.
“Cinder, you can’t just-” Selene began again, but Cinder cocked her head to the side and exhaled a little aggressively, as if to say, Can’t I?
Selene stopped in her tracks at the end of the hallway, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Despite being a year younger, she sometimes felt like she was the eldest among the sisters, especially when Cinder was being as standoffish as she was now. It was time for her to put that maturity to good use.
She opened her eyes, brows pinched together in pleading as the tips of her mouth drooped. Are you just going to leave behind everything you were born into like this? Sever your ties and never look back?
The nod came swiftly, Cinder’s gaze hardening. I am.
Selene shook her head, her features beginning to warp in distress. You can’t. You’re one of us. Our lives… my life is going to be emptier without you.
Cinder smirked, ever so slightly. The hurricane-force winds in her eyes calmed to a warm summer breeze — like the sun, peeking through the clouds after perpetual storms, the old Cinder, the loving, caring sister Selene had known for so long, shone through for a brief second. You’ll be fine. What I said back there was true. You don’t need me for anything. And I need to go.
The eldest Rosethorne then looked down, opening her door. Her eyes widened in desperation. As she realized her sister really was going to leave, Selene took a step towards Cinder. “So you’re really just going to leave Heather and me like this?”
Now that gave Cinder pause. She sighed, keeping her gaze low. “I don’t want to. But I have to.”
“Have to? We’re family, Cinder. Family doesn’t walk out on family.”
“Family doesn’t force family to be someone they’re not. And—” Cinder paused again, taking a deep breath. “I’m not going to go over this again, sister. I’m not going to argue with you. I don’t want your last memory of me to be s***.”
“You say that, and yet you know we’re never going to see each other again. You just called this my last memory of you. You’re so sure — so, so sure,” Selene pointed out, the very thought striking grave sorrow into her. “After fifteen years, is this really it? All those years with us counted for nothing?”
“I said, I’m not going to argue with you.” Cinder looked up at Selene now. The clouds were back, the storm swirling again. “I don’t mean to hurt you, and I don’t want to hurt you, and I’m sorry if what I’m doing makes you feel that way-”
“You’re sorry it makes me feel this way? How do you think I’m supposed to feel about my older sister running away like this?” Selene snapped back, before calming herself. “Please don’t do this, Cinder. I love you, but I also love our family. Our family. And if you’re going to attack and abandon it… I don’t want to choose between the two things that matter most to me. Come on. Give it some time, let Mother’s temper cool, and you can still patch things up, make amends.”
“You really believe that?” Cinder raised an eyebrow. “After everything I just said?”
“You’re a Rosethorne. Mother will have to forgive you, if you forgive her.”
“If I become what she wants me to be. If I sell my soul to her,” Cinder spat.
Would that be so bad? Selene asked with the tilt of her head. Even after all her sister had shouted and argued, she still couldn’t understand why someone would be so appalled by what she saw as her greatest honor — to uphold the Rosethorne legacy. Do you really want to avoid our family that much?
Yes, responded Cinder through her unflinching stare. “There’s nothing left for me here. I want out. I need to live my life, my way.”
“I’m part of your life, too, Cinder,” Selene argued, pointing to herself with both hands, sure that if anything was going to convince her sister to repent, it would be this. “And so is Heather. Don’t you care about us enough to stay, for us?”
Cinder contemplated for a moment, her visage growing slowly more somber. “I care about myself enough to leave.”
Selene could see just how easy it was for her sister to say that. She could tell that, in all likelihood, Cinder had been absolutely certain of that — her hesitation had only been because she didn’t want to admit it to Selene. And though she knew something like that was coming, knew Cinder was trying to turn her back on her forever, the simple words still stung.
“It’s true what Mother said, then. You are selfish. And arrogant. And disloyal!” Selene exploded. “You want to go? Fine! Go! Just leave us, then, if you care so little about us! If you care so little about your own flesh and blood! If you care so little about the people who’ve loved you all your life!”
Cinder looked away, turning back to the door. She muttered to herself, with a touch of disappointment, “You really were always Mother’s favorite.”
“Well? Aren’t you going to protest?” Selene demanded, crossing her arms and eyebrows. “Aren’t you going to tell me I’m wrong, that you really do care about the family even though you’re running away from all of us? Aren’t you going to say something, anything?”
“I told you.” Cinder’s voice was soft, and for a brief second, Selene thought perhaps this was hurting her sister just as much as it was hurting her. “I’m not going to argue with you. If you want to shout at me, that’s your choice.”
“That’s it, then? This is really going to be our last conversation, and that’s all you have to say? Fine, then!” Selene shouted back, while Cinder only began to push her door open. “I hope you’re happy!”
Cinder glanced back at Selene one more time. Though it was the kind of expression Selene had read a thousand times over, the kind of look that she should have been able to discern a deeper meaning from, that time she got nothing. Cinder was suddenly unreadable. That sisterly understanding and connection that had always existed between them had vanished, as if in a plume of smoke and flame.
“I am, Selene. I am,” Cinder nodded. Then she stepped into her room, slamming the door behind her, and just like that she was gone.
Selene stood there, in the quiet hallway, for minutes. She breathed heavily, trying to control her emotions. She banged her clenched fist against the wall. She couldn’t help it. She looked over her shoulder, just to make sure no one was coming up the stairwell behind her, and then let out a primal scream. As a single tear wrought itself from her eye, Selene wiped it away, then shielded herself with a sneer.
“I hope… you’re happy,” Selene repeated once more, quietly and bitterly this time. Then she turned and stormed away. It was too much for her to process in that moment, too much to bear, but as Selene stepped down the stairs, she could make out one thought through the wave of anger and sorrow that threatened to swallow her:
Whatever happened, whatever the two of them became, Selene was going to do her damn best to be better than that traitor.
