by Sofia Daniel
“The bastard brought his plans forward to January,” he said between clenched teeth.
I gulped. “Is International House part of Mercia Academy?”
“It’s affiliated with the Duchy of Mercia, not the academy. The headmaster capitalized on most people not knowing the difference.” Bitterness laced his voice.
I slipped a hand over my mouth. This was fraud… Sort of. While the Duchy owned the estate, the academy was run by a charitable trust that paid the Duchy for the use of the land. The headmaster’s international school was a completely different venture not associated with the academy but using the Mercia name to make the international students believe they’d get the same level of education as the British students.
“International House is bringing down the academy,” said Edward. “None of the staff will teach there, the younger students are frightened out of their wits at some of the residents, and the headmaster has to bring in substandard personnel to attend to the students.”
I shook my head. “I can’t believe he would do that to the school. Who are these students, anyway?”
Edward placed the bottle on the tiled floor and stared down into the Thames. The party boat had disappeared into the distance, and a calmness settled over our stretch of the water. “He assured me they would be children of diplomats, politicians, and international executives who wanted the prestige of a British education, but having seen some of them, I’m not sure.”
I thought about Nadia, who looked around twenty-five and carried large amounts of cash, and some of the shady characters whose pictures had been uploaded on the Mercia-Net. “Don’t dignitaries educate their children at the right age? The people I’ve seen look like grown adults.”
“Whoever they are, the headmaster is losing control of them.”
“Can they be deported?” I took a few steps closer and placed a hand on Edward’s back.
“He’s arranged student visas. The Home Office can do nothing about them.”
My heart ached for Edward. Mr. Chaloner had clearly taken advantage of the Duchy’s financial situation and its need to pay the duke’s medical expenses. The tight band of panic snaked its way back around my chest, and I wrapped my arms around Edward and forced breaths in and out of my lungs.
If I had known his situation was so dire, I wouldn’t have brought him out to the balcony where everything would be recorded. Guilt scoured through my insides. I’d set things in motion that could have terrible repercussions against Edward and his father. But I couldn’t stop now. Something strange was happening in International House, and the headmaster seemed to have unleashed some kind of dangerous machination.
Also, Rudolph had invested a hefty sum to get me back into Mercia Academy, and he also threatened me with military school if I failed to deliver. I blinked hard and blew out a shuddering breath. Maybe it was the alcohol in my system affecting my mood, but all I could feel now was an impending sense of doom.
“Maybe it’s time to get some outside help,” I murmured.
Edward drew back. “The headmaster is counting on everybody keeping quiet about International House. Anything that tarnishes the school also damages the prospects of the students.”
I leaned across the balcony and squeezed his hand. “And what about their safety? Some of them are only eleven years old. What if Mr. Chaloner decides to fill more empty buildings with even worse people?”
“That’s what scares me the most.” He gazed up into into the sky. A dark haze settled overhead, with heavy clouds obscuring the moon. Not a single star was visible, unlike at Mercia Academy, where on crisp nights, the entire heavens were laid bare. “I’m sorry for burdening you with my problems.”
“That’s what friends are for.”
“Are we?” He turned, meeting my gaze with eyes so a blue so deep they appeared black in the dim light of the balcony.
“What?”
“Friends.”
My mouth opened and closed, and the bones of my corset tightened around my torso. Why would he hand me information that could bury him and his precious academy if he didn’t trust me? “I don’t know what you mean.”
“I’ve been so cruel to you.” He let go of my hand and drew away to rest his back against the balcony’s corner railing. “Without knowing anything about you except you were an American whom I found attractive, I made you the campaign of underserved name-calling, and when that didn’t succeed, we resorted to cruel and dangerous pranks. How could you stand in front of me and offer me friendship? I wouldn’t be quite so forgiving.”
The truth in his words crushed my lungs and left me struggling for air. Everything he said was right, but my motives weren’t quite so pure as forgiveness. I had wanted to infiltrate the group, find their weaknesses, and bury them in exchange for what they did to me. Now… I wasn’t quite so sure.
Edward shook his head. “What we did to you afterward was reprehensible. It would have been the breaking of a lesser person.” The corners of his eyes creased with pain. “Emilia, I’m so sor—”
“Why did you do it?” I had to change the subject. Fast. If he gave me a heartfelt apology for the events surrounding the fake kidnapping, my heart would shatter with guilt. “Why bully anyone?”
He lowered his head into his hands and heaved out a long sigh. The tightness around my lungs loosened. If he was talking about himself, he wouldn’t ask me awkward questions I couldn’t answer. Finally, Edward said, “The academy is the only part of my life where I feel in control.”
“But it’s so regimented.”
“Work-wise, yes…” He glanced through the doors of the balcony. Although the four-poster was visible through the glass, the curtains obscured our view of Henry and Blake. “But the academy is a predictable environment and one where I’m the king and even the most learned of teachers fear me. As the future duke, anything I say holds sway with the board.”
“And the students?”
“They’re like sheep, really. Deep down, they all fear becoming the target of scrutiny and disapproval. It’s far easier for them to gain acceptance by aligning themselves with a more powerful influence than in being an individual.”
I swallowed down the bitter taste in the back of my throat. “So, you bullied everyone who didn’t fit in?”
“Only a few examples, like Rita Yelverton.”
“Why?”
“The conventional thinking is that she’s an affront to everything that makes us better than your average pleb. She’s poor, from the wrong background and doesn’t speak like us, yet she gained an academic scholarship.” He shook his head. “Academic. Any more Yelvertons, and people will stop believing they are a privileged elite that deserves to one day rule Britain.”
Disgust rippled through my belly, throwing off my previous panic and guilt. I pursed my lips and hoped the camera was recording this terrible confession. “That’s what you think?”
“Certainly not. If anyone can excel without a single advantage, they deserve all the success in the world.”
“Really,” I said, keeping my voice flat with disbelief.
He nodded. “Mercia Academy was established to teach poor boys to become elite soldiers for King Henry V. I still stand by those general principles. But you have to understand that not everyone agrees.”
I lowered myself into one of the seats at the other end of the balcony and folded my arms across my chest. “Parents send their children to Mercia Academy because they can afford the fees and want a prestigious education.”
“True.”
“It’s not because they’re better than anyone else.” My knee bounced up and down in time with the agitation pumping through my veins. “The headmaster doesn’t mind accepting a huge donation in exchange for letting someone jump the wait list. Why does having money make someone better than anyone else?”
“It doesn’t.” He placed a foot on the concrete that held up the balcony’s iron posts.
“Then why did you go after Rita?”
“I told you.
”
“No.” I shot out of my seat, temper flaring with heat. “That’s the reason you gave to justify your actions. You weren’t protecting a fine institution. You bullied her because it was fun.”
He raised his shoulders. “She was an easy target. I meant it when I said the academy was the only time I felt in control. Turning her from a proud, accomplished girl into a trembling wreck made me feel powerful.”
“Like a king.”
He gave me a soft nod. “Part of me wanted to see the same happen to you.”
“It was all a game,” I whispered, heart plummeting.
“Something about you was so compelling. Each day, I would wake up excited about the prospect of sparring with you. When you got yourself kidnapped, I realized that your fire was the only thing keeping me sane in a world where everything was falling apart.”
My jaw fell slack. Any lingering feelings of guilt I had about exposing International House and getting Edward into trouble blew away in the wind. Was he saying I was no better than a favorite lab experiment?
He lifted his gaze from the river and studied my features. Maybe it was paranoia or a fear of getting caught, but a tiny voice in the back of my mind wondered if this was a test. If I dismissed his confession and acted like I understood, he would become suspicious. He might even work out that I had infiltrated the triumvirate to bring it down and had partially succeeded by exposing Blake.
My posture sagged. Second-guessing the boys was exhausting. As was all this scheming. I turned back to the chair. “You shouldn’t hurt innocent people to make yourself feel better.”
“I realize that now,” he replied.
“What changed?”
“Being your friend gives me more happiness than being your enemy.”
A lump formed in my throat. Edward was so broken. Who else but a tortured soul would ruin people’s lives to feel in control? Or show kindness to others because it made him feel good, not because it was the right thing to do? I would break him further with my actions, and there was not a thing I could do to stop it. The wheels of my betrayal had already been set in motion.
“It’s hard, sometimes.” I forced my features into a rueful smile. “But I keep holding out that we’ll return to how we were before I called the police.”
“Why did you ruin things?” he stared straight into my eyes.
Inside, I bristled. If there had been something to ruin, they wouldn’t have set me up for the kidnapping. I closed my eyes, sucked a deep breath through my nostrils and exhaled.
“I thought the abduction would take Henry.” My throat thickened as memories resurfaced of fighting through fear and horror and grogginess of waking up in a trunk. How could Henry allow that to happen to me? “Those people drugged me at least twice. They were dangerous, or so I thought.”
Edward was silent for several moments. What could you say to a person in a situation like this? Oh, sorry. Our minions injected goodness-knows-what into your system to hide the fact that they were working for us? Hope you’re not too sore about the violation. It was all in a good cause. Ours.
If I was going to convince him, the most skeptical of the triumvirate, then I needed to humble myself and act like every other woman they had cast aside and allowed back into the fold. “If I had known they wouldn’t really take Henry, I wouldn’t have called the police. Maybe next time, confide in me?”
He gave me a half-smile. “I suppose we could have been more forthcoming.”
The words were like a punch to the gut. He supposed? We had been in a relationship. Any more of these lame justifications, half-apologies and attempts to push the blame on me, and I might shove him off the balcony. “Blake and Henry have been quiet. Do you think they’re sleeping?”
He stood and pulled me up with him. “Let’s hope they haven’t passed out in their own fluids.”
I would have asked what he meant, but we stepped into the boudoir and found Blake’s head at Henry’s crotch. Henry threw his head back and groaned, while Blake pumped up and down on his friend’s erection. Warmth trickled between my legs. I’d never seen two guys together and I wanted more.
“Are they…” I struggled for words. “Usually like this?”
Edward smiled. “Only when drunk and horny.”
“Do you ever join them?”
“When we were much younger. These days, I prefer girls.” His arm curled around my waist, then he drew me close and murmured into my ear, “One in particular.”
Groans and moans and gasps filled the air, and wetness gathered between my folds. Edward’s lips skimmed over the shell of my ear, his hot, rapid breath adding to my excitement. He also found the two on the bed hot.
“Does it excite you to see them together?” he asked.
“Yes,” I whispered back.
He ran his hand down my back, over the fastenings of the corset. “We can join them. Neither would mind.”
Desire pulsed through my core, filling me with an aching heat. Then I remembered the camera attached to the frame of the four-poster. “Another time.”
“What’s wrong?”
“After everything you’ve said, I need some space.”
Edward wrapped both arms around my waist. “You can’t just leave. We haven’t finished talking.”
“Actually… I’m done.”
His arms dropped away. “I knew you’d overreact.”
I whirled on him, anger blazing through the vessels under my skin. “What did you expect from me? A declaration of love?”
“Understanding.”
“You ruined other peoples’ lives because your own life outside the Academy was chaotic, and you wanted to feel in control by manipulating others. I get it.”
“And?” His brows drew together.
“Now I need a little space to let everything sink in.”
Henry let out a deep, shuddering moan that made my nipples tighten. If Edward hadn’t left me in such a foul mood, I would have asked him to join the others, so I could watch. Instead, I headed for the door. “Give me time, alright?
Edward inclined his head. “As you wish.”
I turned the handle, stepped out into the hallway and closed the door. As soon as it clicked shut, the music of the party returned, reminding me of the outside world. I doubled over and steadied myself with my hands on my knees. What had I done to Henry and Blake? With all the recent scandals surrounding Blake, Jackie was bound to put stills of him and Henry on the front page of the Correspondent.
My breath came in shallow pants, ribs straining against my tight bodice. I blinked hard, trying not to collapse from a lack of oxygen. There was no need to panic until I’d discussed the footage with Jackie. I might be able to convince her that outing two boys under the age of eighteen was a step too far and might expose them to homophobic attacks, but I doubted that such a concern would bother Rudolph.
Chapter 13
I spent the rest of Saturday night crashing in a suite Jackie and her team had rented to observe the party. On Sunday, I went to the Correspondent office, where the whole team sifted through the footage. Her interns had identified each guest by name, so that if they found anything interesting, they could look the person up and see whether they were worth exposing in the paper.
Jackie and I sat behind her desk, watching my conversation with Edward on the balcony. She shook her head. “I’m not surprised you want to destroy this boy. What a selfish prick.”
“Is there enough on International House?” I asked.
“It’s a start.” Jackie let out a rasping cough. “We now know it’s the headmaster’s lucrative sideline, and from what Edward Mercia says, they seem to be splitting the proceeds. It’s a pity you didn’t think to ask the ratios—”
“But I didn’t want to sound like a journalist.” My shoulders drooped. The footage I had captured was pretty damning. I didn’t know if it was enough to get the headmaster into trouble, but considering Edward had been tight-lipped about International House until now, I thought Jackie would ha
ve been a little more impressed.
She nodded and stared back at the screen. “He would have clammed up, then. The way you handled things was great, but I need more to finish the story.”
“What are you looking for?” I held my breath, wondering what she would demand next.
“Evidence. How much are these students paying? Who are they? Where is the money going?”
I shifted in my seat. “That’s a lot.”
“There’s a file somewhere with all the evidence. I need it.”
Turning my head, I closed my eyes and let out a long, frustrated huff. “I’m not a cat burglar.”
“You’ll find a way.”
I tried to suggest Mr. Carbuncle, but Jackie said the man was becoming agitated with her reporter’s demands to install more cameras. Any more pressure, and he might leave the school and disappear. She said she would reword Edward’s speech about bullying, change a few details, embellish it with real events taken from the Mercia-Net and publish a piece as an interview with an anonymous public schoolboy.
Next, we turned to the footage of Henry and Blake. She grimaced and fast-forward through most of it, slowing down when Edward came into the picture to talk.
“Buckingham Palace has threatened to have us investigated if we publish anything about Blake Simpson-West. He’s off-limits unless we want to get shut down.”
Relief whooshed out of my lungs. “So, you won’t use the footage?”
Jackie shook her head. “But you might be able to use it to force a confession out of Henry Bourneville and get him to clear your name.”
I glanced away. A video like that might get either of them attacked by a homophobe. I wanted to see them humiliated, not physically hurt. Besides, after agreeing to be Sergei’s beard, it would be awfully hypocritical of me to threaten to expose Henry’s gay sex video. “It’s too low a blow.”
Jackie pushed her bleached hair behind her ears and fixed me with a hard stare. “So is framing an innocent girl for a crime she didn’t commit. Do you know what would have happened to you if Rudolph didn’t pay the Bourneville family to drop the charges?”