“You have a problem with that suggestion, Fly?” Fox asks.
“Well, yes,” he says, smoothing his hair. “You’re meant to be hiding from Sterling, the soldiers, from everyone else in this academy. And now there’s, what …” he points his hand, counting us, “five of you. Plus me and Clare are probably on that list now, considering we skipped lessons this morning.” Clare gulps. “We’re not exactly discreet, are we? And Professor Cornelius has a memory like a sieve. He’s hardly going to keep your presence here secret.”
“He already knows I’m here,” Fox says. “And I trust him. I trust him with my life.”
“Do you trust him with ours? With Briony’s?” Thorne asks.
“Yes. Cornelius is a clever man. I think he could help make sense of this.”
“What’s there to make sense of?” I cry in frustration. “It’s just history. It has nothing to do with what’s happening to us now or with our future.”
“It has everything to do with fate, Briony. Surely you can see that.” He sighs. “Look, I could be wrong, but I think it’s worth a try. I think we tell Cornelius what we’ve learned and see if he can decipher it.” Before I can argue any more, he says, “We know fate has brought us together, Briony. We know fate has led us here to this point. We know fate has opened this library and given us these books. I’ve been at this school for years and I never even knew this place existed. It must all be for a reason.”
Fly and Clare insist on returning to their lessons despite my best efforts to dissuade them. I can’t help thinking that their absence will have drawn suspicion – suspicion that might lead to more questions from the new headmaster, Sterling. But Fox, Fly, and Clare all insist that the longer they stay away, the moresuspicious they’ll look. Fly insists he can concoct some crazy story that will more than justify their absence.
“Don’t go anywhere,” he says, holding on to both my shoulders and giving me a little shake, “until one of us comes back with a report of what’s going on out there.” He motions his head backward in the direction of the tunnel that leads back to the library.
“I promise,” I say, covering his hands with my own. “But be careful. And you too, Clare. And Fly, look after Clare.”
He nods seriously, and then the two of them disappear off down the tunnel, leaving me with my five mates.
Beaufort’s already pulling the food supplies from the top shelf, examining each of them with a disapproving frown. Fox is studying the books some more, and Dray is attempting to wash the green gunk off his skin in the sink.
I am about to go study the food stores myself, my stomach grumbling with hunger, when a hand wraps around my forearm and pulls me into the dark tunnel, away from the others.
“I missed you, Nini,” Thorne whispers in my ear, dragging me close to him. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking of you.”
“You were locked in the Black Tower, facing execution, and you were thinking of me,” I tease, delighted to be back in his arms – his strong, comforting arms that I waited so long to hold me. I run my fingers over his cheeks, rough with stubble, taking delight in this too.
“What else would I be thinking about, but you, Nini?”
“How to escape?!”
“I just wanted to hold you again, touch you again, kiss you again.”
“Then what are you waiting for?” I whisper.
His gaze falls to my mouth and for a moment he just stares, the anticipation doing crazy things to my insides, and then he presses his mouth to mine, kissing with so much moreconfidence, force, and hunger than that first kiss we’d shared. It has the magic flickering in my veins and my knees turning to jelly.
There are so many things I want to do to this man, so many things I want to do with him, and if this kiss is anything to go by, he wants to do them just as badly. We’ve been patient. We’ve waited so long, hungry, desperate, damn ravenous for each other and not even able to touch.
But I think we’ll have to wait a little longer because there’s someone knocking on the other side of the wall.
Chapter Twelve
Briony
“It’s me, Fly,” a hoarse voice whispers though the stone wall.
I’m snapping away from Thorne almost immediately, and igniting the light in my hands, urging the library to slide back the secret door.
My tall friend stumbles into the tunnel, looking uncomfortable, twisting his hands together like he’s wringing a towel.
“What’s wrong?” I gasp, jumping towards him.
“Nothing, Cupcake,” he says, holding his hand out to me. “It’s just…” He swallows. “The academy was never a fun place to begin with. Let’s just say it’s even less fun right now.”
I nod in understanding.
