Chapter 32 #2
“Everyone’s talking about it.” Stella’s gaze flicks over the various students studying us as they pass by. She hesitates before going on. “One of the headmaster’s assistants was asking around too, wanting you to come to the office. I don’t know if it’s about the same thing…”
The creases at the corners of her mouth deepen. I might not have known Stella Kingsley as long as Other Elodie did, but I can recognize her indecision.
“What else? What don’t you want to tell me?”
Stella meets my eyes again. There’s still a coolness in them, as if she’s not totally sure I’m worth the warning she’s already given me.
But she’s here anyway. Even though I insulted her.
Her, not Cadance or the twins.
Because I protected her from the fall on the stairs yesterday? Because she’s had enough time to see I’m not carrying out an extended campaign against her?
“I don’t know if this has anything to do with it either,” she says finally. “But I saw Cadance going into the headmaster’s office yesterday afternoon. I just—I thought you should know.”
And she didn’t trust anyone else to tell me.
I turn and immediately notice my other friends standing with a few more 15th years across the grand hall.
Cadance is gabbing away with her hand pressed to her chest as if in shock.
Madison looks bored, and Mia is twisting one of the short strands of her pixie cut anxiously around her finger, but the other girls are hanging off every word.
Cadance notes my attention. A flicker of a smile, thin and pointed, crosses her face and disappears just as quickly as she tugs her gaze back to her audience.
How did she—
Yesterday in the stairwell. I took off on her and the others on the way to class to talk with Salvatore.
We were concealing ourselves, but I wasn’t as alert as I should have been the whole time. And that sly comment she made when I made it to class about the “detour” I’d taken…
Fucking fried falaks.
My teeth set on edge, but I keep my tone even when I look at Stella again. “Thanks for the heads up. I’m sure I can get this sorted out quickly.”
What exactly did Cadance see? What does she think it means?
It isn’t uncommon for Luminary students to mess around with each other here and there, but they’re smart enough to avoid skin-to-skin contact and possible sparked bonds. If she caught me kissing him…
Even if she didn’t, the fact of who he is and the families he comes from would raise concerns all on its own.
Phillip Lowell, Other Elodie’s apparent New Year’s fling, was one thing. The Lowells are upstanding lucent citizens.
The heir to the Devine family isn’t supposed to be getting busy with career criminals.
I hurry to my locker, hoping I can get to it and then to class before I’m officially summoned to the office. Maybe one of my matches will have a better idea what’s going on?
It doesn’t sound as if Cadance has any actual evidence, considering Stella asked me whether it was true rather than assuming…
“Whoa there.”
An arm swings into my path. I jerk to a halt and find my way blocked by Captain Ross.
For a second, his movie-star-caliber smile almost puts me at ease. Then I remember that even if I don’t need to worry about him taking me to task over my personal liaisons, he’s at best working alongside a professor who seems to want me dead. At worst he’s conspiring with that professor.
And he shatters even the first minor consolation with his next words.
He peers down at me, folding his bulging arms over his chest. “Miss Devine, isn’t it? I’ve heard some concerning rumors going around the school this morning, especially considering the focus of our intensive program.”
Not him getting on my case too.
I push my lips into a smile. “I don’t know what you mean, Captain, but I can’t think of anything that would interfere with the seminars.”
He clicks his tongue. “I like to know that everyone’s taking the training seriously. I hope we haven’t included participants who’ve tried to take advantage of your good nature.”
Should I be glad that he seems to think Salvatore’s the bad guy in this story or offended that he assumes I’d let myself be bullied into a hook-up?
My smile stiffens despite my best efforts. “I promise I haven’t run into any problems with anyone else in the program. Thanks for looking out for me, though.”
When I move to step around him, he shifts his stance to stop me. “I hope you’re taking proper precautions in general. In your position, there are so many considerations—”
I don’t have to find out what considerations he thinks I might be neglecting, because the next moment, a clatter of metal peals out from behind him.
The clang is loud enough that even the stalwart captain flinches. He whips around to reveal one of the maintenance workers has come up behind him, carrying a mop and righting a bucket that tipped over on the floor.
It’s the same woman I saw outside the school during our last session—frizzy hair pulled into a bun over her broad shoulders.
She bobs her head apologetically at Ross, but her gaze darts to me for just an instant. Her fingers flex in a shooing gesture.
She dropped the bucket on purpose—to give me a chance to escape his interrogation?
I don’t have time to figure out why. As she babbles out an apology, I dash past him and hustle onward.
No more than the slightest flutter of relief passes through me. I’m only delaying the inevitable fallout.