by Wendy Knight
“Kenna wants him to ask her.” The words felt icky in Aquis’s mouth, but she forced a brightness to her tone she definitely did not feel.
Flint blew out a breath that seemed oddly close to relief. “Oh. Right. I’ll talk to him.”
“Thanks,” Aquis said quietly, hoping he didn’t hear the disappointment in her voice.
Disappointment she wasn’t quite sure she understood herself.
Galvan was already in his seat when they came in, and Flint took the desk next to him, leaving Aquis in front of Galvan. He hated it when she let her hair touch his desk, so usually that was the first thing she did. Somehow, it didn’t seem as funny now, and she kept it pulled over her shoulder and her back to both of them.
Safer that way, in case Flint could read her conflicting, roiling emotions.
Galvan leaned forward, poking her hair with his pencil.
“What’s your problem?”
She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “I don’t have a problem. Don’t touch me.”
Galvan snickered and sat back, kicking her chair lightly. Flint heaved a long-suffering sigh and for a minute, everything seemed normal. Like old times.
She wanted to smack Galvan. He was doing his best to provoke her, and Flint was trying not to strangle them both.
Just the way it was supposed to be.
“Hey,” Flint hissed when the teacher turned them loose for silent reading. “I have to go suit shopping after school. I could use a woman’s opinion.” He peered at her hopefully when she turned toward him.
“My opinion’s not good enough?” Galvan asked with mock hurt. “What does she know about suits?”
“More than you, probably,” Aquis retorted, eyeing his flannel shirt. “I’d love to come. This will be fun.”
“Mara informed me that since I refuse to get a tux, the suit has to be black with purple accents. Purple makes her hair pop. Whatever that means.” Flint browsed through the suits on the rack, checking price tags. Aquis didn’t know if his mother was extremely poor or if she just didn’t help Flint at all, but the only money he got was when they went on patrols, and that was meager given the infrequency of them.
“I think it means the little napkin thing in the pocket,” Galvan muttered, moving down the line across from Flint. “I don’t know what other accents she could mean.”
Aquis had no knowledge of men clothes and had only come to give her opinion on if the suit looked good or not, so she followed quietly, watching these two boys she loved so much.
“Oh, Kenna wants you to ask her to the dance,” Flint said distractedly. “Right, Aquis?”
Galvan raised an eyebrow, waiting for Aquis to answer, but she could find no words. Instead, she nodded helplessly.
“Why didn’t she just tell me that?”
Aquis shrugged. “Maybe she was afraid.”
“That’s dumb. I’m a nice guy.”
Aquis finally found her voice. “Sure you are. Docile as a lamb.”
Galvan scowled at her and she laughed, back on sure footing.
“I don’t want a date to the ball. I’d rather stay in my room with a book.” Galvan held up a suit. “Try this one.”
Flint took it obediently, adding it to the other one over his shoulder. “Me too, but I don’t have a choice. You shouldn’t either.”
“Because you’re too afraid of making enemies with the Counselwoman’s daughter. Kenna has no such powerful connections.”
“She is your friend though,” Aquis said. “You don’t want to alienate your friend.”
“That’s why I don’t want to ask her. I don’t want to mess up a good thing.” Galvan pushed away from the rack. “And I don’t want to buy a suit.”
Aquis tried to stifle the overwhelming relief that flooded her soul. “Try those on, Flint. I want to see.”
Flint nodded and wandered away. Aquis found a chair and Galvan sat next to her, drumming his fingers on the arm. They waited in awkward silence, Aquis sneaking glances at Galvan when he looked away. Wondering if he felt it. If he was fighting it, like she was.
Since he seemed to not even realize she sat next to him, probably not.
Flint came out, strutting down the aisles like a supermodel. Aquis hid a grin. He looked handsome, his broad shoulders filling out the suit well. She whistled her approval and earned annoyed stares from several other people in the store.
Galvan slouched in his seat. “You’re so embarrassing.”
Aquis whistled again as Flint walked away. Galvan scowled.
“How’s he going to pay for this?” Aquis asked, keeping her voice low so Flint couldn’t overhear her. “He’s stretched pretty thin.” It was one of the reasons Flint was so anxious to join the Elites. Steady income and paid housing. New technology and benefits.
No more stressing that he didn’t have as much as everyone else.
“He’s not. Mara is.” Galvan barely glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “He’s massively uncomfortable about it though. He tried to use it as an excuse to not go with her. She... overcame that excuse.”
Aquis twisted her hair around her finger. “She’s determined, that’s for sure.”
Galvan nodded. He seemed oddly fascinated by her hair. “She is when she wants something.”
“I like this one.” Flint spun in front of them, posing like he was on the cover of GQ. “What do you think? Aquis?”
She scanned him up and down and nodded her approval. “I like.”
He beamed and went back to change.
“Good thing I came along,” Galvan muttered.
Aquis giggled, plucking at his flannel shirt. “You’re really good at helping him know what not to wear.”
Galvan jerked his shirt out of her fingers and rolled his eyes. “As always, what a privilege it is to be stuck with you.”
CHAPTER TEN
GALVAN straightened Flint’s tie and stood back, admiring his handiwork. “Look at you. All grown up and stuff.”
Flint batted his hands away and rolled his eyes. “It would be better if you were going. Kenna doesn’t get to go now.”
“Kenna,” Galvan said, tossing Flint first one polished shoe and then the other, “has a date with someone else, so you can’t guilt me into anything. I’m going to stay right here and read my book.”
Flint sank onto the bed, pulling his shoes on over his worn black socks. Those socks had seen many missions and patrols, and they were faded next to the crisp black of the new suit, but luckily were only barely visible when he stood up. “Sounds like a blast.”
Galvan smirked, waving his book at Flint.
“So...I think I’m going to tell Aquis. Tonight.”
Galvan’s heart sank and he struggled to swallow, the book falling forgotten to his side. “Tonight? You’re going with Mara. How—”
“After the ball.” Flint surveyed himself in the mirror, straightening errant spikes of hair.
“So...you’re going to spend a magical evening with one girl, and then tell another one you’re in love with her? Sounds kind of harsh.” Galvan leaned against the door frame, crossing his arms over his chest in the hope that it would muffle the roaring of his traitorous heart.
Flint shrugged. “I’m running out of time. “We graduate in a week and then who knows what will happen. If I want her, I have to make my move now.”
Galvan dragged a hand over his face. “I see.”
Flint pounded him on the shoulder as he squeezed past. “Wish me luck.”
“On the dance or with Aquis?”
Flint winked. “Both?”
“Good luck,” Galvan said weakly, giving Flint two thumbs up that should have been a lot more enthusiastic.
Flint didn’t notice as he bounded down the stairs.
Galvan followed just far enough to see into the common room. Mara was in a dress acceptable for a fairytale princess or a southern belle, the hoop so wide it barely fit through the door. Bright purple that did not, in fact, make her hair pop. It clashed wildly
with the tangled orange strands. Flint gave Galvan a panicked, nervous look before holding his arm out for Mara—which was awkward because she couldn’t get anywhere near him with that hoop.
Dancing was going to be a blast.
Galvan waved and watched them go, Mara already telling Flint all of their plans for the evening. He’d gone out to dinner with her mother earlier and said the woman was horrific, but she could pull some strings to get him into officer training if he didn’t make it on his own.
Like he would possibly not make it on his own.
He had no faith in his own abilities, despite the fact that he knew he was the most powerful student at the school—even more powerful than Blaise had been before she’d graduated, and she was a Firestarter.
Flint didn’t need Mara. Galvan wished he’d realize that so they could be done with her.
He went back to his room, picked up his book and spread out across his bed.
And tried not to wonder what Aquis was doing.
Two hours later, he gave up and sent her a message. “What’s up?”
She answered immediately, like her phone had already been in her hand. “Reading. You?”
“Me too.”
“I went and spied on the ball for a bit. Flint looks miserable. But very handsome.”
“Not long now and he can call it a day.”
He wanted to ask if she was sad she wasn’t there. If she’d already had a dress picked out. If she missed their weird group date. But that all seemed too personal and he didn’t have the courage to get that involved. His feelings were all over the map as it was.
She sent another text while he was trying to come up with an aloof and appropriate yet witty comment. “Oh, weird. Flint just messaged me. He must have known we were talking about him. I’m going to see him now. You coming?”
Flint had not invited Galvan, and it was clear why.
He was going to confess his feelings to Aquis, and they would be a sickly sweet, beautiful couple with an amazing story to tell about child friendship grown into love, and they’d get married and live happily ever after taking over the world with their freakishly strong abilities, and Galvan would—
Would what?
Stand aside and watch them be happy while his own heart broke because he couldn’t admit his feelings? Because it would kill his best friend if he did?
Flint had wanted Aquis for as long as Galvan could remember. Galvan had hated her until just recently. It wasn’t fair for him to make a play for her. She belonged to Flint.
“No, I’m at the good part. Have fun.”
“Wow. Choosing a book over us. I see how it is.”
Galvan couldn’t respond.
He tried to read but failed. Too much was hinging on what Aquis said to his best friend’s confession.
Flint’s heart... and Galvan’s.
AQUIS bounded down the stairs and past the threshold. Flint stood just beyond the arched doorway, waiting. He looked like a dashing European spy in his suit, arms crossed over his chest and leaning against the wall. She smiled, hurrying up to him.
“Where’s Mara?”
“I told her I needed to go. The ball was mostly over anyway.” Flint fidgeted with his cuffs, seemingly unable to meet Aquis’s eyes.
She glanced at her watch. The ball still had at least another hour.
“I need to talk to you. Take a walk with me?” Flint finally looked up at her, pale and hopeful and terrified all at once.
Aquis bit her lip, confused by his expression. “Sure...”
He nodded toward the dark hall ahead, abandoned while everyone else was out partying. She walked beside him, peering up at his face in the shadows.
It was unreadable.
Flint’s face had never been unreadable to her.
They left the school behind, slipping through the side door, and wandered out onto the manicured lawns and still Flint said nothing. It was a beautiful night, the moon full and the flowers blooming in the late spring air.
“What’s up, Flint? You’re making me nervous.”
Flint winced. “Sorry. That’s not my intention. I just—I have something I need to tell you. Something I’ve needed to tell you for a long time.”
She frowned. “What could you possibly have waited to tell me? I thought we tell each other everything. Are you keeping secrets, Flint?” She tried for a teasing lilt to her voice, but it fell flat with suspicion.
Flint licked his lips, running a hand through his gelled hair. It was more wild than usual, catching the moonlight in the orange and red strands. “Okay, look. There’s no easy way to say this...”
And then he said nothing. Aquis waited but he didn’t continue even after sucking in oxygen for several seconds.
She raised an eyebrow.
“I’m in love with you,” Flint blurted. “I’ve been in love with you since we were little. I know you’re Amazi and I’m Pyra but I don’t care. You’re my reason to keep pushing, to keep trying to be better. Without you, nothing is worth it.”
Aquis just stared at him, her mouth opening and closing like a fish.
He was in love with her?
Her heart sank to her stomach, coiling into a protective ball.
They were best friends. He was like a brother to her.
How was she supposed to respond?
“I—” She couldn’t come up with anything. No coherent thought. “I—”
Flint leaned closer, his face so near she could smell his cologne. She’d never known him to wear it before. She could see his hands shake as he brushed the hair away from her temples and still, nothing came.
Nothing that wouldn’t hurt him.
“You’re everything, Aquis.”
She stepped back involuntarily and in that one motion, he saw it all. Too clearly, he saw her reaction because he knew her so well. Abruptly, he straightened, the dreamy look dying from his eyes.
“I see.”
“No, Flint—it’s not that. I just—I need to think—” She reached a hand toward him, falling short just inches from his chest.
“You need to think? If you need to think, Aquis, then the answer’s already there. I shouldn’t have said anything.” He spun on his heel, hands jammed in the pockets of his suit, head bent as he stalked away.
“Flint, wait!” she gasped, still scrambling to think of something—anything—to say that would make this all better.
How could he be in love with her?
He just shook his head, disappearing around the corner.
Aquis buried her face in her hands and sank to the ground, the grass damp against her knees.
What had she done?
She should have lied. She should have said she loved him, too. But every time she thought those words, it wasn’t Flint’s face she saw.
It was Galvan’s.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
GALVAN was sitting in the commons when Flint barreled in.
Mara had come in similarly a half hour before.
Galvan waited for Flint to stop, to say something or give some kind of update, but Flint shoved past everyone in his way and went straight to the dorms.
Kenna gave Galvan a bewildered look as she sank next to him on the couch. She handed him the bowl of popcorn she’d been making, still in her ball finery—although she’d removed her gloves.
“What was that about?”
Galvan handed the bowl back. “Nothing good. I’ll be back.”
He hadn’t gone after Mara when she’d come raging through. She’d been furious and Galvan didn’t want to get anywhere near her temper.
He didn’t feel much differently about Flint, actually.
But Flint was his best friend and he wasn’t returning triumphant like Galvan had expected. Something had gone wrong.
He tapped on Flint’s door and it swung open under his touch. Flint was wrenching his tie off, nearly strangling himself in the process.
“Hey.”
Flint looked up at him, rolled his eyes, and went back to his
tie.
“So... it didn’t go well?” Galvan asked mildly. Other boys appeared in the hall, watching curiously, so Galvan edged inside and shut the door behind him.
Flint snorted. “That’s an understatement.”
“What happened?”
Flint sank onto his bed, cradling his head in his hands, his tie loose and hanging across his shoulders. “She said she had to think.”
Galvan waited for worse to come, because that wasn’t the horrific response Flint was making it out to be.
“And?”
“And what?” Flint yelled. “She had to think. If she was in love with me, she wouldn’t have had to think. She would have known, Galvan! She moved away when I came close—”
“Because of the Pyra burn, obviously,” Galvan interrupted, but Flint shook his head.
“It wasn’t the Pyra burn,” he said, his voice low and full of pain.
Galvan ran a hand through his hair and wished he didn’t feel relief. What kind of friend was he, to be relieved when Flint was hurting like he was?
“I’m sorry. But maybe she’ll realize with time that she does feel the same way. You can’t give up on her so easily.” Forcing an awkward laugh, he added, “She’s probably regretting her indecision right now. If you would have just given her time, she could have told you.”
Flint raised hopeful eyes toward Galvan, hopeful eyes that crushed Galvan’s soul. “You think?”
“Yeah, I mean, it’s possible.”
It wasn’t. Aquis knew her own mind. She was never indecisive. She was obnoxiously opinionated.
Flint rose to his feet, pacing around the bed and the desk without smashing his shins on anything, which took talent Galvan didn’t possess.
“What if—” He peered over at Galvan, calculating.
Galvan swallowed. He had a feeling he wasn’t going to like what was coming.
“—What if you went and talked to her.”
“Me?” Galvan yelped. That was probably the worst idea ever. “Why me?”
Flint blinked at him like he was stupid. “Because you’re one of her best friends? And you’re my best friend?”