“What wereyoudoing in the headmaster’s office?” Elara hissed back.
Signey still clutched a sheaf of papers. Elara snatched them while she was distracted and sprinted toward the couch to read them.
Elara Vincent
Deadegg, San Irie
Eighteen Years Old
“Is this my student record?” she said, blinking. “What do you want with my record?”
“I needed to know how much they know about you,” said Signey through clenched teeth. “How much they’ve always known about you.”
“And you didn’t think to just ask me?”
“Your appearance was too convenient, Vincent. I suspected that it might be—” Signey shook her head. “It hardly matters. That record is newly made. If they knew you existed before your arrival at Hearthstone, then you clearly didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.”
For some reason, that stung. “Well, were you going to tell me you’re part of the SotoDynasty?”
“How do you—”
“I might not matter, but apparently you matter a lot. All the headmaster does is write letters to the commander about you.”
Signey grew oddly still. “Letters saying what?”
“Just because you caught me doesn’t mean I trust you.”
This time, the silence of the Hearthstone night seemed less threatening and more like a cage that trapped the two of them in their own world. Signey was impossible to read, and Elara was too tired to try. But they now knew each other, knew sides of each other that could either form a bridge over their differences orlaunch them to new heights of animosity. Given Signey’s behavior to this point, Elara expected at least one murder attempt before the night was through.
So she was completely surprised when Signey said, “I think we can help each other.”
“Do you?”
“You’re clearly terrible at this. Hiding underneath the desk, Vincent? The first place anyone would look?”
“Leaving the door unlocked, Soto?” Elara shot back. “The first place to raise suspicions?”
Signey surprised her again by smiling. It was not a wide smile, nor a particularly friendly one, but there was amusement there. “You make a compelling point. Listen, we have classes in the morning, and it’s already late. I won’t tell anyone I saw you if you don’t tell anyone that you saw me. After dinner, we can talk.Reallytalk. Down by the boathouse with Zephyra, perhaps?”
“I still don’t trust you.”
“Good,” Signey said simply, taking the student file back from Elara. “See you tomorrow.”
Elara watched her until her bedroom door slipped closed and then sank down on the couch with her head in her hands. Her first night as a spy, and she’d already been caught. But why had Signey been in Headmaster Luxton’s office, looking into Elara’s records?
An oval wall clock hung above the fireplace, warning her that sunrise was in a few short hours. Rest. She needed rest. She needed to get through a full day of classes.
And then she would find out if Signey truly wanted to be allies in whatever she was doing or if she was going to become the biggest threat to Elara’s mission.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
FARON
FARON KNEW THAT SHE WAS BEING ANNOYING, BUT SHE COULDN’Tbring herself to stop.
She’d awoken with a restlessness that had followed her throughout the day, making her desperate for any kind of stimulation. Only the memory of the crowds from yesterday kept her from sneaking into the city while the sun was high in the sky. Instead, she tried to lure the servants into conversation, cleaned her own room, took a long walk down the beach, and then attempted to make bulla and cheese for lunch before being chased out of the kitchen by workers alarmed at the idea of the Empyrean making her own meals. She’d ended up near the library entirely by accident, but she’d decided to stay once she caught sight of Reeve.
She’d never met a boy who loved to read as much as Reeve did. In Deadegg, Faron had often found him passed out with his cheek pressed to a page in the most random of locations, as if he’d dragged himself somewhere private to avoid being disturbed.
