One at a time, each candle around the room reignites, and I take in everyone’s hushed gasps, my eyes lingering a little too long on Parker’s reaction. His cocky demeanor is replaced with a calm surprise.Interesting.
The Keepers walk out the same entrance they came in, disappearing into the darkness. There’s a moment where we all stand quietly, anticipating something else, but I know better. Shaking my head, I approach the spiral stone steps that lead upstairs to the hidden door on the side of Crimson Keep. It opens up to miles of forest stretching out in front of me.
I register the faint steps of someone following me, but I don’t pay them any attention, ready to get some fresh air and find my girl. Just as I round the corner to the front of the large building, I spot Mia sitting on a bench under one of the lights, bouncing her knee. She looks up immediately, as if she can feel my presence before she sees me.
Her face lights up for a split second, and then it morphs in horror. Confusion fills me until I catch Parker coming up next to me. For fuck’s sake, can I catch a break? Mia jogs over to us, and I want to reach for her, but the look on her face holds me back.
“Both of you?” Mia’s eyes snap to Parker, her face conveying the same confusion I felt. I expected this; my family has prepared me for it. Seeing Parker down there was more than unexpected. Students at Corvus who are descendants are treated like royalty, and Parker here hasn’t been much more than a fly that won’t stop bothering you, no matter how hard you try to swat him away. “Park, how is that possible? Why?”
Parker grips Mia’s elbow and starts to usher her toward a tight alley between Crimson Keep and the dining hall. A growlworks its way up my throat, involuntary and loud. Parker throws up his middle finger, shuffling him and Mia out of sight. I follow them, annoyed that I’m curious what the fuck he was doing down there, but also not liking him touching her.
Mia stands in front of him, her hands on her hips, waiting for an answer. I feel like I’m intruding on something personal with the way they’re looking at each other. Even though she’s pissed off, and he’s clearly annoyed, the tension between them is palpable.
Parker reaches out, tucking a strand of Mia’s silky chestnut hair behind her ear. She melts into his touch, her eyes fluttering closed. She’s my girlfriend, and yet they’re so familiar, so comfortable, and so . . .in love. It’s clear to anyone with fucking eyes and a working brain. She looks at him exactly how she looks at me. I’ve known it, but seeing it hits different. I don’t want it to change things, because fuck him, but I feel like I hate him a little less.
I let out an annoyed huff, breaking whatever trance they were just floating in together. “You gonna share your news, or are we gonna stand here the rest of the night? I’d like to get my girlfriend home and remind her who she belongs to.”
That does it. Parker puffs up his chest slightly, taking a step in my direction. I brace for him, ready to fight this fucker again. “Thought we already had that talk, buddy? You an only child? Never learned to share in kindergarten?”
“Fuck you, Parker. I don’t fucking share. She’s with me, you’re not in the goddamn picture. Spill your fuckin’ secrets so we can all move on.”
“Both of you shut up, for fuck’s sake. I can’t believe you two areadults sometimes. Just put your bullshit aside for five seconds. Parker, what the hell?”
“I’m adopted. It’s not something I broadcast. The parents who adopted me are my parents. I don’t have this desire to go run off and find out more about my biological donors, so I’ve never brought it up.”
“But if you were brought into Crimson Veil, that means your bio parents are descendants of the founders.”
Parker shifts on his feet, his hand reaching up to rub the back of his neck. He’s clearly uncomfortable. The smug satisfaction I expect to feel doesn’t come. Instead, I’m a little jealous. Growing up an Ashcroft has sucked ass.
“Which family?” I say, suddenly nervous, not putting it past my fucked-up dad to not have some love child he gave up twenty-two years ago. Wouldn’t that just fucking figure.
“Harrow.”
Well, that’s a bullet dodged.
“Parker, how did you keep this from me?” Mia whispers, her face falling. Parker’s eyebrows pinch, his shoulders sagging. I don’t take any happiness from it, and seeing Mia upset wrecks me. I take a large step forward, crowding her space, running the back of my fingers down her cheek in an effort to comfort her.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. It’s not something that I think about. I was adopted as a baby, and my parents are my parents. I don’t differentiate between blood and adoptive.”
“We’ve known each other for so long, Park, you had to have known being pulled into Crimson Veil would be a possibility.”
“You’re right, I knew it was possible. But I hoped that it wouldn’t come, and I pushed it out of my mind. You have no idea how shocked I was to see that envelope.”
“Not as shocked as I am, apparently,” Mia quips.
Parker looks pained. “I’m sorry.”
“So now what? How did it go?”
“We’re not supposed to talk about it. We can talk in private, but . . .” I pause and look toward the opening of the alley. “We can’t talk out in the open like this. There are earseverywhere.”
“Pretty sure they’ve even got the ravens listening and reporting back,” Parker jokes, and I grunt in a half laugh. He’s not wrong. This place has always been creepy as fuck, and I’m not above believing it’s haunted. There’s definitely something darker going on here that I wouldn’t be able to explain.
“Okay, well, do you at least know what to expect? How you’re going to get through the trials?”
“No idea. Kinda assumed all of us would be going in blind, but clearly, I was the odd one out.”
Mia’s eyes snap in my direction, and I start shaking my head, reading her pretty little face before her words speak it all to life.
