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brooch on the tattered bed. He shoved some clothes into his pack and looked around for something without the house seal on them, something he could sell. He had already torn up the sheets, and those would be too large to travel with anyway.
    Dershik knew the clothes he wore would have the seal of his house on it, embroidered in yellow and blue somewhere. Even his boots would have the mark, under the fold where it wouldn’t be seen during normal wear. What about the books and scrolls? Dershik went to Ceric’s side of the room and flipped them open, unrolling them. All of them were marked, some with the seals of several houses as they had been passed from Barony to Barony.
    To Her Hems with this, he thought, throwing a few more clothes items into his bag and grabbing a pair of gloves, wrapping them around the newly obtained dagger. He was already sweating both from wearing too many clothes and his nervousness as the reality of what he was going to do sunk in. His hand against the door, he took a deep breath.
    The door pushed open from the other side and Dershik stepped back, fear clawing his throat. He thought it was his father about to find him in his current state. Instead a strawberry blond head popped in, dark blue eyes and a lantern lighting up the room. “Derry?” Ceric said, walking into the room. “Are you okay? Papa looked cross after he went to look for you.”
    “I’m leaving,” Dershik said, slinging his pack over one shoulder. He tried to make it sound as convincing as possible but his resolve was already faltering. The look Ceric gave him shattered it. Dershik shook his head. “There’s no use arguing. I can’t be the Baron.”
    Ceric burst into tears and rushed Dershik, hugging him tightly. He was fairly certain his brother was talking but he couldn’t understand what he was saying. His determination dissolved into shame as he felt his brother’s tears soak through his tunic to his skin. Dershik pried Ceric off of him, his head still hurting as he looked him over, trying to keep his remorse off his face. “Please, stop crying, Ceric. Ceric. Ceric!”
    “You can’t go!” Ceric managed. His face was all red now from crying and his eyelashes stuck to each other. “You can’t! If you go, I’ll have no one here. And you have to be the Baron. It’s your birthright!”
    “You’re not even going to be here after the spring, Ceric! Father’s sending you away to Whitfield!” The look on Ceric’s face told Dershik his brother already knew this. “You know about Whitfield already?”
    “Of course,” Ceric said, picking up the lantern. He wiped his face with his free hand, taking a deep breath. “I talked it over with the Sisters and Father. Whitfield would be the best place for me to study and be taken seriously. Not many men don grey robes.”
    So Cira knew and hadn’t told him. Dershik cocked his head to the side. “Did you, now? Did Father also tell you Jerila is moving to the keep?” Now Ceric’s eyes went wide and then he colored, biting his lip. “Did he tell you that? And I’m to take vows with her?” Now he got a reaction out of his brother he wanted. Surprise followed by disbelief.
    “It isn’t true,” Ceric said. It sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than anything else. “You don’t even like Jerila.”
    “I know I don’t but she’s…her father owns the largest mines in the Barony.”
    “So that’s why?” Ceric shouted, looking angrier than Dershik had ever seen him. “You want something from her family, so you’re going to marry her?”
    “I don’t want to marry her, Ceric!” he shouted over him, resisting the urge to grab him by the shoulders and shake him. “I told Father! I know you like her! I saw you kissing at the party.” His face still hurt and shouting had made the pain worse. He walked over to Ceric’s bed and sat on the edge, setting his pack on the floor. His head was spinning and he felt like he might throw up. Even though it was