~Book Dedication~
For All the girls who've been treated like they were too hard to handle growing up. There is always someone fighting for you, believe that. It's okay to let yourself feel once in a while, your recovery means everything for the ones...
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"Lynn, what did you learn today?" Valentine asked.
I sat across from him. My broken hand was unable to grasp the fork without me grimacing. I had dropped my sword so he broke my hand. I just wanted to go home. I wanted to see Clary again. I wanted to see my mom.
"I learned not to drop my sword," I muttered.
"What was that?!" He asked. "You speak with confidence. You are a Morgenstern." I sat up straight in my chair holding my head high as my eyes watered.
"I learned to not drop my sword, Father," I explained as my eyes met Jonny's.
He couldn't look up from his plate of pasta. The red sauce speckles with the parmesan cheese. We've had this meal repeated times. Valentine always said it was our favorite like eventually we would believe him.
"Good, good, you are learning my Lynn," He nodded. He took a bite of the pasta. "You will make me proud I can feel it. Your mother may be able to keep one of you from me, but you are exceptional for only being five."
I bit the inside of my lip until the metallic taste flooded my mouth. I stared at the water in front of me. The glass was starting to sweat from the ice that had melted in it.
"Jonathan, what did you learn?" He asked. A little bit of spaghetti staining his mouth.
"To never let my weakness for family cloud my judgment," He spoke proudly his eyes focused on the wall across from him.
His right eye was bruised from where I'd kicked him. His eyes had gone black and it scared me. My fear scared him so he backed off until I hit him. I didn't want to hit Jonny. I never wanted to hurt him. Valentine told me he was my brother. He was also a child that my mother didn't want. That she left for him to pick up and deal with. That she didn't want me so she gave me back to him like a lost dog.
He would always remind me that I was lucky to have been saved by him or else I would be killed. He told me I was too fragile and sheltered to be able to withstand what the shadow world was going to put me through.
"Again!" Valentine yelled.
I pulled my sore body off the ground. We were in the yard. The grass is covered in frost. The smoke from the chimney puffed into the air behind us. My fingers were numb, I could barely form a fist.
"I'm cold," I said.
Jonathan didn't respond he came at me without hesitation. He came at me brutally shoving me back. My head smacked the hard dirt as he jumped on top of me hitting me in my ribs and face until everything was tingling slowly swelling from his strong blows.
"Enough! Enough!" Valentine yelled.
Jonathan didn't stop. I could feel him trying to choke me. My brother was trying to kill me. I looked into his black eyes seeing the reflection of my own fearful ones. We were both afraid.
