Grunting, Ellory opened her eyes, only to find that one of the voices belonged to Hudson Graves.
Hudson stood in front of the closed door, his hands in his pockets as he eyed the dormitory like it might give him a contagious disease. There were bags beneath his eyes and a frown on his mouth, but he was here, he washere, and Ellory sprang into a sitting position at the sight of him.
Then she remembered that she wasn’t wearing a bra and crossed her arms over her chest.
“What are you doing here?” It came out more waspish than she had intended, but her state of undress made her hyperaware of herself. And him. And him seeing her breasts like this for the first time, sagging drowsily toward her stomach. “You haven’t been answering my calls.”
“I’ve been asking myself what I’m doing here for five minutes now,” said Hudson, wrinkling his nose. “I don’t remember these dorms being so small…”
“I wanted a single,” Stasie said, sitting cross-legged on her bed. She was fully dressed, her tablet in her lap. “But my parents didn’t want me to be antisocial.”
Ellory frowned at her tone until she realized what was bothering her: Stasie soundednice. Flirtatious, even. She watched her roommate watch Hudson through her light-brown lashes, and Ellory’s frown deepened. That explained why Stasie had let him inside the dorm while Ellory had been sleeping, yes, but it made Ellory even angrier about the violation. Stasie was wearing full makeup, her hair in perfect waves that cascaded toward her shoulders. Ellory looked like a troll doll, her nipples poking at her shirt in the cold room. Knowing Stasie, she’d done this on purpose.
Ellory wiped at the corner of her mouth, relieved to find she hadn’t drooled. Small miracles.
“Can you wait in the hallway while I get dressed?” she asked, pulling her blanket up to her chin. Hudson stopped scanning the room and scanned her instead, as if realizing for the first time that she wasn’t ready for the day. His lips parted like he wanted to say something, but he just nodded sharply. Ellory didn’t relax until there was a closed door between the two of them. She glared at Stasie. “New rule: no boys over while I’m asleep.”
Stasie discarded her tablet and stared at Ellory with more interestthan she’d ever had before. “How do you know Hudson Graves? He asked for you specifically. I thought you were dating Liam Blackwood.” She paused. “Speaking of, how did you managethat? I cannot believe you have more of a dating life than I do when all you do is study and pass out.”
Ellory ignored her to throw on her laundry-day bra and whatever shirt-and-jeans combination that wasn’t visibly stained. When she opened the door, Hudson was leaning against the wall opposite the dorm, looking, if possible, more exhausted than he had inside. She so rarely saw him appear anything less than perfect, but he’d left a trail of cracks in the facade for her to find: His coat was improperly buttoned, his curls drooped from beneath his beanie, and his skin had the kind of pallor one usually associated with a fever. The urge to put him to bed was so strong that she closed the door tightly behind her before she could act on it.
“Let’s walk and talk,” she said. “You look like you need coffee.”
Hudson followed her without argument, stifling a yawn. “I saw your messages and came right over. I went home like we talked about, but then there was a family emergency.”
“Was the emergency that you lost your phone?”
“No,” he admitted. “But I forgot to check it with everything going on.”
“What was it, then?”
“My brother. He showed up at the house.”
Ellory discarded her first three questions and settled on her fourth: “Is that why he was calling you?”
“No, he was calling me because he wanted money. It’s unusual for him to go back to Darien. It was…” Several seconds passed in silence before Hudson settled on something: “Exhausting. My parents hadn’t seen him in long enough that all three of them hadforgotten how much they hate one another, and I had to mediate at least six disagreements.”
Ellory saved the rest of her questions for when she’d gotten some coffee in him. When they reached Powers That Bean, Wynne, who often worked the morning shifts because most of her classes were in the afternoon, gestured for Ellory to get behind the counter and make her own. The morning rush had resulted in a line that wrapped around the room, and it was either that, or they would be waiting at least an hour for their drinks.
She and Hudson ended up on one of the benches that ornamented the campus, this one overlooking the quad. Hudson had already downed half his roast by the time they found the bench; the other half followed as soon as he sat down. Ellory, drinking her coffee at a more measured pace, tried to rein in her concern and failed.
“Did you not get any sleep?” she asked.
Hudson tossed his empty cup into a nearby garbage bin. “I told you I came as soon as I got your messages. That was about two hours ago.” His dark eyes were now alert enough for her to read the apology in them. “Did you still get to go to the salon? Was it horrific?”
“Worse than that,” Ellory groaned. “Those people—”
“Iknow.”
The entire story of their time apart spilled out of her, starting with the salon and ending with her conversation with Boone. Hudson didn’t question her offer from Colt or her anger at Boone for the lies he’d told them both. He just listened until she ran out of words and had to replenish her energy by finishing her coffee. Her attempt to throw it into the trash can missed by at least two feet.
“This whole time…” Hudson said, when she returned from picking it up and placing it in herself. “Part of me didn’t trulybelieve Boone could be an Old Master until now. Especially not after I discovered my magic. I thought anything strange that happened around our house was me, not.…”
He sounded as baffled and betrayed as Ellory had been. Still, her mind couldn’t settle. “You really hadnoidea? How is that even possible? He said you’re as close as brothers.”
“Boone’s always been a facetious person. He’s sarcastic even when he’s telling the truth. If I hadn’t witnessed everything we’ve seen this school year with my own eyes, I probably wouldn’t have believed him even if he’d done magic right in front of me. And hehasn’t.” Hudson wasn’t looking at her, but there was a tick in his bearded jaw. “Everyone is so concerned with protecting me when all I want is the goddamn truth.”
“Yeah,” Ellory murmured. “I know how that feels. I just have no idea what to believe anymore.”
