Caleb didn’t wait for an invitation. He lunged for the tin, prying the lid open with a pair of chopsticks and cramming the biscuits into his mouth like a starving animal. He finished half the tin in seconds, his face turning a dangerous shade of crimson as he choked on the dry crumbs.

Dominic hurriedly poured him a cup of water. Caleb drained it in one frantic gulp before the words finally began to spill out—a jagged, pathetic tale of his journey north.

Hardly an hour after boarding the train, he’d been picked clean. His money and ration coupons were gone before the city lights had even faded. Driven by a hunger he’d never known, he had spent the last few days begging for scraps on the train. But in a time when every grain was counted, no one had enough to fill the belly of a grown man. By the time he reached the station, even his heavy cotton quilt had vanished, stolen while he slept.

"Dominic! Evelyn has destroyed me!" Caleb wailed, the tears carving clean tracks through the grime on his face. "She’s sent me to hell!"

Dominic patted his brother’s head, a flicker of genuine pity softening his features. "Didn't Mother and Father warn you to watch for pickpockets?"

Of course they had. But Caleb had lived a charmed life; he never imagined his pockets would be slit open while he stood in a crowded aisle. It was only after he arrived that he learned the final insult: Evelyn was already here.

"She came to crawl back to you, didn't she?" Caleb snarled, his eyes flashing with a mix of fury and entitlement. He was convinced that every misfortune he’d suffered was a debt Evelyn now owed him.

Dominic hesitated. Initially, he’d assumed the same—that Evelyn had fled to the Red Bull Brigade because he was there to provide a roof and a shield. But she had been in the village for nearly a fortnight and hadn't so much as glanced in his direction. The realization left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Caleb stood up, cursing under his breath, ready to hunt her down. Dominic tried to steer him toward the washbasin, suggesting he rest before the confrontation, but Caleb was beyond reason. He wanted her to see him exactly like this—to see the wreckage she had made of her own brother.

In her room, Evelyn was finishing her dinner. Hearing the heavy thud of a knock, she swallowed the last bite of a soft white bun and grabbed a piece of coarse corn cake to hold as a prop.

She opened the door to find what looked like a beggar on her doorstep. Without a word, she pressed the corn cake into his hands and moved to shut the door.

Caleb stood frozen. Was this an admission of guilt? Was she too ashamed to look him in the eye? The smell of the warm corn cake hit him, and his stomach roared. He’d barely made a dent in his hunger with the biscuits. He tore into the cake, his resolve wavering for a moment under the sheer bliss of a hot meal.

Dominic, watching from the courtyard, expected an immediate explosion of shouting. When the silence stretched on, he walked over, only to find Caleb standing at Evelyn’s threshold, happily chewing.

"Caleb! What are you doing?" Dominic asked, his lip curling in disbelief.

"I’m eating first," Caleb mumbled around a mouthful of corn. "I'll settle the score when I’m full."

He pounded on the door again. This time, Evelyn opened it to find both brothers standing there. She looked at Dominic, then shifted her gaze to the stinking, disheveled heap that was Caleb. Recognition dawned, and she doubled over, a peal of sharp, genuine laughter ringing out into the evening air.

"Evelyn!" Caleb barked. "You have the nerve to laugh? Look at me! This is your fault!"

Evelyn wiped a tear from her eye, though her amusement soured slightly at the sight of them. She hadn't expected Caleb to be diverted to the North; she’d hoped he’d be suffering in the humid marshes of the South.

"I was doing you a favor, Caleb," she said flatly. "Consider it a character-building exercise."

"A favor?" Caleb shrieked. "You've lost your mind and you’re trying to take me down with you! You’re sick, Evelyn. No sister acts like this!"

"Let’s take this inside," Dominic interjected, reaching for the doorframe.

Evelyn blocked his path. "You aren't setting foot in my home. If you want to talk, we do it in the dirt."

"I’m starving," Caleb whined, trying to peer past her into the room. "Let me in. I know you have food in there."

"No," Evelyn said. "I barely have enough for myself. I’m not running a soup kitchen for the ungrateful."

Caleb stared at her, stunned. Was there no remorse? No lingering shred of the sister who used to save her best morsels for him? Dominic gave his brother a look of grim solidarity. He’d been in the village for two weeks and hadn't received so much as a scrap of bread from her.

"Fine. My place, then," Dominic muttered.

As they walked through the youth quarters, the other residents watched the trio with varying degrees of curiosity. Hazel leaned against a post, her voice dripping with vitriol. "Well, if it isn't the Queen herself. What brings you to our humble corner of the woods, Evelyn?"

Evelyn ignored her entirely, looking at Dominic. "Where is your room?"

Dominic’s jaw tightened. "You’ve been here all this time and you don’t even know where I sleep? Hazel spoke to you—where are your manners?"

Evelyn spared a glance at Hazel. "I wasn't looking for her. What business is it of yours?"

Hazel flushed a deep crimson, her eyes narrowing. "You aren't welcome here. Get out!"

"I go where I please," Evelyn said, her voice dropping to a dangerous, low hum. "You have no authority to move me, you idiot."

"Evelyn!" Dominic roared. "Who raised you to be so foul? Has your decency been eaten by dogs? Apologize to Hazel this instant!"

The smug satisfaction on Hazel’s face lasted for all of three seconds.

CRACK.

Evelyn’s hand moved in a blur, the slap echoing across the compound. Dominic stumbled back, a perfect red palm print blooming on his cheek. The silence that followed was absolute.

"Evelyn!" Hazel screamed. "You hit him? You hit your own brother? You’re a lunatic!"

Evelyn looked at Dominic with eyes like flint. "I told you once: we are nothing to each other. Do not let me hear that tone of discipline from you again. You haven't earned the right, and you don't have the standing."

Dominic’s face was a storm cloud of suppressed violence. "Fine," he hissed through gritted teeth. "Fine."

Hazel stepped forward, her hands balled into fists, intent on avenging Dominic. Evelyn met her gaze with a look of profound pity that stopped the girl in her tracks.

"You can chase him all you want, Hazel, but he’ll never look at you," Evelyn said, her voice loud enough for the gathering crowd to hear. "He doesn't want someone like you. He wants a woman who wilts like a dying lily—someone who cries at the drop of a hat and looks prettier in her sorrow than most women do in their joy."

Hazel froze, her secret longing laid bare and mocked in one breath. Shamed and confused, she turned and bolted toward the dormitories.

Caleb watched the exchange in horror. This wasn't the sister he knew; the girl who had once been his shadow was now a stranger who struck her elders and severed blood ties without a blink.

"Evelyn, enough," Dominic said, his voice trembling with rage. "Are you finished?"

Evelyn turned her gaze to Caleb. "Do you want to know the real reason your big brother is rotting in the countryside?"

Caleb looked at Dominic, then back to Evelyn’s predatory smile. He didn't know whether to nod or run.

"You’re deflection," Dominic spat, a desperate sneer on his lips. "You can't explain why you betrayed Caleb, so you’re trying to change the subject. Tell him, Evelyn. Tell him why you ruined his life."