Third-year students, toiling away since before dawn, have transformed the barren wasteland that surrounds the Academy into a lush paradise, with not a speck of dirt visible beneath the trees, ferns, and shrubs blanketing the landscape. Each student tends their own garden, and visitors will stroll through this afternoon, casting their votes for the most impressive displays. They’ll announce the winner at tonight’s ball, but it’ll be a miracle if the incanted flora lasts that long.
Whoever’s working beneath my window has an obvious love of pink and green. A stone path with small, rosy flowers filling its cracks meanders through a field of clovers. Boulders of various sizes stand throughout, impeccably placed, with various flowers clumped around them—tulips, camellias, and lilies being the gardener’s clear favorites. She’s currently focused on sprouting spindly cherry trees whose branches dance gracefully out from their trunks, speeding them through their natural cycles to fill their limbs with delicate pink blossoms.
Minutes pass as I lean against my window, mesmerized by her work. Not even the palace gardens in Durnam have so much color.
I should draw this.
Not her creations, beautiful as they are, but the moment her face transforms from intense focus into the elation of success. I need to capture that.
Time flows by as I sketch, doing quick studies whenever she completes a task. Her eyes, the tug of her smile, how her mouth parts as a tired breath escapes her. Later, I’ll use these to build a more complete, polished picture.
Once she moves beyond my line of sight, I reluctantly close my sketchbook and prepare for the day, turning my options over in my mind. Tagging along with Alexis and Oliver would likely be awkward, and I’ve never actually had to look for Reid before, always meeting up in class. I’m not sure I have the gall to search the men’s dorms.
I’m dressed, but still uncertain what to do when someone bangs loudly on the door.
“Reid?”What are the chances?“What are you doing here?”
He rolls his eyes. “You don’t remember. Of course.” He leans closer, peering past me. “Is Alexis here? I never found her last night.”
It was too much to hope he was here for me. I let him in, and he goes straight to Alexis’s door, pounding on it. A groan sounds from within. A minute later, Alexis emerges wearing the same clothes as yesterday, her hair sticking out at odd angles.
She yawns. “What’s going on?”
I lean against the wall, hoping that if I stick around, they’ll invite me to whatever they have going on. “Late night?” I ask.
Alexis nods, smoothing the kinks out of her dark braids.
Reid’s brow furrows. “But you weren’t at The Duck when I got there.”
Her eyes pop open, focusing on him. “You actually came back?”
“I said I would.”
“Yeah, but we waited forever. We eventually gave up, figured you weren’t coming.”
“We?”
“Emmrich and me.” Her face brightens. “We went to his place. The third-years had already started gardening by the time I got back.”
Reid’s eyes narrow, and I slowly back away from the conversation.
This won’t end well.
Alexis shrugs. “He assumed you weren’t interested.”
Reid’s palm flies open in a gesture of disbelief. “Why would he think that? I said I’d come back.”
“But you didn’t.”
I donotwant to get pulled into this, not after what happened when I tried to smooth things over with Sophie. I creep toward the hallway door.
Reid’s eyes shoot daggers at Alexis. “So instead of wondering if I was alright, you just fucked him instead?”
Oh boy.
Alexis pulls herself to her full height, glaring at Reid. “You know what? I did. Twice!”
I rush out before Reid responds.
