by Sofia Daniel
He kissed me on the tip of my nose. “Neither do I, but Edward will be safe with him.”
I stepped away and locked eyes with Blake, who gave me the strangest look, almost as though he had come to some sort of realization. It might have been because of my concern for Edward and my closeness with Henry. I certainly hadn’t given him any cause to suspect me of setting him up to be exposed in the national press for repeating his stepfather’s treasonous words. Pushing away those thoughts, I buttoned up my shirt and fastened my tie.
“Let’s go to lessons,” I said. “It wouldn’t feel right to continue without Edward.”
Blake’s face fell for a second, but he hid the expression with a smile. “You’re right.”
Henry pressed a kiss into my temple. “And we have to hand in that Spanish assignment.”
The three of us walked out of Edward’s study at the same time Mr. Jenkins was stepping out of his office. His eyes widened at the sight of our kiss-reddened lips, and he dove back through the door and shut it behind him.
I narrowed my eyes and muttered, “Is this what he does at any sign of inappropriate behavior?”
“He’s been like this ever since we got to Elder House,” said Blake. “It works out to our benefit.”
As I walked through the hallway, I swallowed hard and pushed away memories from the gauntlet. Mr. Jenkins must have heard the noise from his office. He and the matron might have been able to talk sense into the baying crowd or at least ordered those from outside the house to leave. Or he could have called campus security, but he did nothing.
Mr. Carbuncle sorted a stack of mail in the reception hall, which he had upended on the large table. The man looked more haggard than usual, his cheekbones prominent, eyes sunken, and mustache thicker. He gave the boys a polite nod and went on with his work.
Outside, bass music boomed from International House, and a cold wind swirled in from the direction of the woods, bringing with it the scent of pine and juniper. The fresh air from the overcast day cleared my head and returned echoes of three sets of lips and hands caressing me to distraction. I ran a hand through my hair and sucked in a deep breath. If Mr. Chaloner hadn’t called Edward when he had, I might have ended up sleeping with at least one of the triumvirate.
Blake headed off to the music block on the far right of the campus, while Henry and I walked down the path of bare magnolia trees toward the main teaching block.
As the gravel crunched underfoot, Henry shook his head. “I can’t believe you got rid of Bachmann.”
I smiled. “Why not?”
“After everything we put you through last term.”
“But you apologized, didn’t you?”
“And I meant every word.” He placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed.
I turned my head up to meet his gaze and smiled. As long as the apology was backed up with the clearing of my name, I would accept it. “What will you say to your parents?”
“That we’re friends, of course.” He smiled back, eyes shining with affection. “Summer’s a slow time of year, and they usually visit the stores in the Middle East. Henry, Blake, and I spend most of our time in one of the villas. We’d be delighted to have you join us.”
My jaws tightened with irritation, and my hands twitched and curled into fists. I stopped by a bench labeled TOBIAS UNDERWOOD and grabbed Henry by the wrist. He furrowed his brow and peered down at me as though I was acting strangely.
“We had an agreement,” I said through clenched teeth. “I would break up with Sergei, and you would tell your parents the truth.”
His frown melted into a blank look. “And I will.”
“What will you say?”
“That you weren’t behind the kidnapping, of course.”
I dropped his wrist as though brainlessness was contagious and folded my arms across my chest. My pulse thrashed in my eardrums, drowning out the sounds of music playing from International House. Anyone could make assurances. Pretty words and earnest utterances in the heat of passion were worthless in the cold light of day. “How will you convince them?”
Henry leaned down to give me a peck on the lips, but I stepped out of range. He had the nerve to droop his shoulders as though he’d been rejected for no reason and stared at me, eyes pained. “Once they get to know you, they’ll understand you could never be capable of such a crime.”
“No,” I snapped.
“I don’t follow.”
I prodded him in the chest. “You have to tell them who did it.”
He turned his gaze toward the plaque on the bench. “I couldn’t.”
“That’s what we agreed.”
His brows drew together. “You wanted me to tell them you weren’t the kidnapper.”
“Right,” I said between clenched teeth. There was no point in continuing this line of conversation when he was deliberately acting obtuse. “We’ll be late for Spanish.”
He grabbed my bicep. “What’s wrong?”
I tried jerking my arm free, but his grip was too firm. “Rudolph still thinks I arranged a kidnapping, and he still thinks I’m harboring half a million pounds. If I step out of line one more time, he’ll send me to military school.”
“But you’re here.” He cupped both cheeks with his warm hands. Hands that now felt stifling.
I shook my head. “Why would he pay for the university education of a person who extorted a fortune from your parents? I won’t get into any colleges with no money, and my grades aren’t high enough for a scholarship.”
“Shhh.” He pressed a kiss on my forehead and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. “You worry too much. By then, I’ll come into my fortune and take care of you.”
I stepped out of his grasp. “Then I really will become a trollop.”
His face fell. “Emilia.”
I stormed off down the magnolia path. He could easily have caught up with me, but he didn’t. Maybe he was thinking about what I’d said, or maybe he just didn’t care. What kind of idiot would take the rap for someone else’s crimes on the promise that they’d be taken care of at some point in the distant future?
Henry didn’t know I’d made a deal with Rudolph and be safely in New York before the end of term, but his attempt at fulfilling his end of the bargain was insulting. As I neared the wood doors of the main teaching block, I remembered the most important flaw in his pathetic promise of financial support. Henry was one of the youngest people in our year. His birthday was on September first, which meant by the time the funds were due for colleges, he would still be only seventeen.
The thought of enduring two hours of Spanish with Henry at my side made my stomach churn, so I walked alongside the main teaching block toward the library. It was as old as Elder House, with its stone front and small windows. Its interior consisted of a single floor with mezzanines that stretched up to a vaulted, stained glass ceiling. Students sat at four-person, mahogany desks, each fitted with brass table lamps to provide additional illumination.
A few heads turned as I passed. All the crap that had been posted about me on the Mercia-Net had meant that few students didn’t know the American trollop. I spotted a set of wooden stairs that led to the first mezzanine and tiptoed up them, trying not to make the structure creak. The mezzanine was about eight feet wide with stained glass windows every few feet between bookcases. An ornate, iron rail ran down one side, making it feel like an upstairs landing.
Lowering myself into the leather window seat with a view of the lawn and the row of magnolia trees, I let out a deep sigh. Was it time to leave Mercia Academy? I could have pressed Jackie to fund my return plane ticket to New York, but I had wanted the satisfaction of Henry clearing my name by confessing his crime to his parents. I lowered my head into my hands and sighed.
Moments later, footsteps padded toward me, and a quiet voice said, “Emilia?”
I glanced up. Blake stared down at me, his face solemn. My brow creased. “I thought you had Music.”
“Henry asked me to speak to you.
Will you come outside with me?”
“What’s the point?” I asked.
“You might learn something that explains his behavior.”
“Alright. Let me put these books away, and I’ll meet you outside.”
He smiled and headed toward the iron stairs that led to the ground floor. As soon as he disappeared down the steps, I pulled out my burner phone and turned on the recording app. I doubted that Blake would tell me anything that could possibly explain why Henry would let his supposed lover take the blame for his crime, but he might reveal something of use to Jackie and the team.
Outside, Blake placed a hand on the small of my back, and we strolled to a garden behind the music block where white-flowered, evergreen shrubs grew next to lavender. While we walked around a meandering, gravel path, he repeated things I had already heard weeks ago from Edward. That Henry had faked his own kidnapping to pay for the Duke of Mercia’s full-time care and that the Duchy’s finances were in a terrible state because of decisions the duke had made before his diagnosis of dementia.
“Why didn’t you tell me this last term?” I shook my head. “If I’d known the kidnappers were only asking Henry for a larger share of the ransom, I wouldn’t have interfered.”
“I didn’t think you’d actually call the police,” Blake replied.
I stopped. “Why wouldn’t I when your reasons not to worry were so flippant? Telling me that Henry strong and can take care of himself after I’d seen the men overpower him was almost goading me to get help.”
He rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced. “I should have taken you more seriously. I realize that, now.”
I turned away, swallowing back the bitterness crawling up my gullet. One flippant comment from Blake had set off a disastrous chain of events that had turned me from a regular person to someone who snuck about, pretending to be friends with others while planning their downfall. If my schemes backfired on me before I left, I’d face something worse than Charlotte’s gauntlet.
Blake stepped in front of me and tilted his head to the side. “Why do you spend time alone with Edward and Henry but not with me?”
Because being ignored and considered less important than his friends drove him mad. I wouldn’t tell him that, of course. Instead, I said, “You’re the one whose motives I understand the least.”
“Me?”
“Did you ever dislike or mistrust me?”
He stepped back. “Of course not.”
“Yet you joined in on all the pranks. Why?”
He parted his lips, but no words came out.
“You made Charlotte believe you were arranging a relationship with Henry. Then you got her to pay you in fellatio and set up a camera to record her.”
A smile twitched across his handsome face. “But that’s Charlotte. We have a history.”
“And then you played the video on the projector in front of everyone. You even went so far as to steal my phone to make it look like the recording came from me.” I curled my lip. “You’ll do anything to be entertained, even if people get hurt.”
He turned away. Probably because my words were true. Edward had said that night on the balcony that Blake loved to create chaos. I could see that now.
“I don’t know what you want from me,” he said in a small voice.
I would have told him I wanted him to be less two-faced, but I was the most duplicitous of all. “Why don’t we stop dwelling on this? When Edward returns, we can all go back to his study and continue where we left off.”
He grinned. “I wouldn’t be averse to that, although I have a suggestion.”
“What’s that?”
“We return to the new house and use his four-poster.”
I closed my eyes and hummed. The triumvirate, hot and naked and all over me might be an explosive experience to take away when I left. “I’ll think about it.”
Edward didn’t return to classes for the rest of the afternoon, nor was he at dinner. But the next evening, he walked into the dining room looking drawn.
I placed my hand on top of his wrist. “What’s happened?”
“Inspectors…” He gulped. “Both from the examination boards and the charity commission have invaded the school.”
“What for?” asked Henry.
“They’re trying to ascertain whether International House is part of the academy.” His hands shook as he reached for the teapot.
“Let me do that.” I picked up the pot and poured him a cup of tea, all the while breathing hard. “What’s the headmaster doing?”
“Trying to clean up his mess.” Edward gulped down the steaming, hot tea. “If they deem International House part of the academy, then the examination board will revoke the school’s ability to administer and invigilate A-Levels and GCSE examinations.”
My blood turned to ice. Without the ability to administer exams, everyone from Mercia Academy would have to make a pilgrimage to a local school to sit their A-Levels and GCSEs. That had to be disruptive, and might affect students’ grades.
I’d thought a few people would be publicly shamed from the exposure, but the fifth and upper-sixth years who were due to take their exams in the summer would be at risk. This wouldn’t affect Rita yet, as we were all in the lower-sixth, but she’d probably worry about her friend from Hawthorn House. My mouth went dry, and I gulped down a glass of orange juice.
“Can’t the Board of Directors put them right?” asked Henry.
Edward gave his head a minute shake. “At the rate things are going, if there’s one more scandal, people will start withdrawing their children from the academy.”
I stared down at my plate and swallowed the guilt writhing up my gullet. Before the end of term, Jackie would publish a scandal that would make the others seem like the mildest of misdemeanors.
Chapter 19
With a weary sigh, Edward rose from his seat. His shoulders hung several inches lower than usual, and he seemed shorter with his slumped posture. “The matter was out of my hands. Excuse me while I catch up on my sleep.”
My stomach churned with a mixture of confusion and guilt and worry. I had only meant to embarrass Edward. To repay the pain and humiliation of leaving Mercia Academy beaten, broken and in disgrace. But I’d gone too far. Set into motion a national scandal that would hurt more than just Edward. Now, every student at the academy might suffer, and Edward would blame himself.
“I’ll come with you.” The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them. “No one should be alone at a time like this.”
He gave me a half-smile. “I’d appreciate the company.”
We walked side-by-side out of the dining room, through the hallway laden with the disapproving stares of alumni and Mercia ancestors hanging on the wall. We ascended the stairs in silence, the tread of wood under our footsteps creaking in time with the thud of my heart. If I had any sense, I would leave Mercia Academy now. There was no more information left to gather. Jackie and the others could complete their exposés without my help.
If I was honest with myself, I’d become a little too attached to the boys. Even when they made me angry, I still needed their presence. They’d burrowed into my heart like a trio of persistent maggots and now wouldn’t leave. A tiny part of me also wanted to help Edward weather the upcoming shit storm, but it was ridiculous, since I’d been its cause.
Edward’s bedroom was much like the one I shared with Rita, except there was a wooden-framed double bed instead of a single. The fire in the grate had reduced itself to embers, and a chill hung in the air.
“I’d better stoke that before it burns out.” I rushed to the wood bucket, adding kindling to the fire with trembling hands. A month ago, I might have delighted in his misery. Mere days ago, I had rejoiced in having that last piece of information to bury Edward and Mr. Chaloner, but now, all I could think about was Edward’s pain. And it was all because of me. The kindling caught fire, and I added some more logs. Moments later, large flames curled around them, and I stood.
“Thank you.” Edward wrapped his arms around me from behind, filling my senses with his camphor wood scent.
He felt warm and comforting and so right at my back that my eyes fluttered shut, and I exhaled a long, shuddering breath. “What for?”
“I’m not sure how I might have survived this without your presence.” His breath puffed against my neck, sending pleasant tingles down my spine. “These past few years have been an ordeal, but things have gotten worse, recently. Without you, I might have fallen apart.”
His words were a knife through the heart. If he knew I’d set up his troubles and had stuck around to see him suffer, he’d revert back into the Edward I had met at the start of last term. I turned around, rested my head on his shoulder, and hugged back. Edward rubbed circles between my shoulder blades, as though I was the one who needed soothing.
“Edward…” I drew back, mind going blank. It wasn’t like I would tell him I was the cause of his troubles, but I didn’t deserve such high praise.
His eyes were as blue as the ocean reflecting storm clouds. Indigo around the edges with starbursts of pale light. “You’re the only girl in Elder House who hasn’t wanted something from me apart from friendship.”
The intensity of his stare weighed my stomach with guilt, and I lowered my lashes. Unlike the other girls, I hadn’t been interested in becoming the Duchess of Mercia — because I’d wanted to bury Edward for what he had done to me and leave him in ruins. Now that I was on my way to getting what I wanted, victory over such a broken soul felt hollow. “Let’s go to bed.”
“I’ll be a gentleman,” he said.
I smoothed my hands down the front of his blazer and gave him a peck on the lips. “You always are.”
Edward kissed back, a slow brush of his lips against mine. It was warm, soft, unhurried, as though he wanted to savor this moment. He held me by the waist, and I wrapped my arms around his neck, bringing us closer.
His hands slid to my front, skimming the opening of my blazer. “May I?”
“Only if you let me take off yours.” I slipped his buttons through their holes, reveling in the slow reveal of Edward’s body.