“How many times at Rugby Sunday did Serena ask how you are, ask about your winter break, ask anything at all about you?”
The thickness in my throat is barbed.
I swallow the pain back.
Asta’s smile isn’t victorious. It’s grim. “What about all the balls, all the trips around the world, all the dinners and the New Years? Name one time she treated you like the sister of her fiancé.”
My mouth thins, and I bite down on my lips for a beat before they pucker back into place.
Asta sighs, soft. “Everyone at this school, in our world, underestimates you.”
My brows lift—and then the surprise fades, and I’m just waiting for the final blow.
The punchline.
“They all think you are so stupid. But you aren’t, are you? You are sharp, calculating, and observant. They all think you haven’t realised what’s going on. But I know better.” Her gaze steadies mine. “I know that you know.”
Ice trickles through me.
I lift my chin, giving nothing away.
But Asta doesn’t care. “I promise you, Serena’s motivations to befriend you go beyondthat.”
Go beyond Dray’s engagement to me.
Go beyond alliance and convenience and positions.
That is what Asta is telling me.
Serena has an entirely different motive.
I turn my flushed cheek to Asta and stare down at the unpolished tap. The brass is starting to erode.
“Information for information.” Asta arrives at her own motive. “I revealed something to you—now I need you to reveal a truth to me.”
I fight the smile from snaking onto my face.
I school myself, keeping my mask on, as I turn to look at her—the desperation in her eyes, but a face of glass.
Asta fucked up.
In so many ways, she sabotaged herself.
First of all, she should have offered the deal before giving out information.
Why would I bargain for what I already know, for information I got for free?
Second, she should have addeduntrustworthyto her list of adjectives to describe me.
I predict the question before it comes, sensing the echo of Eric, his name, niggling through me.
It makes sense.
Asta was in the mess hall, that’s how she knows Landon isn’t down there. Serena must have told her that I was asked to stay back in class—with Eric. But she also must’ve told Asta that Landon wanted to show me something after class.
So Asta has gone looking for me, hoping I’m with Landon, and she’s started with the mixed bathrooms.
Asta is right about me.
