My thumb broke the apple skin before I realized I had squeezed.
Juice ran down my palm.
I should be the one wiping away that blood. Not Caspian. Me.
Pain caught under my right shoulder and my Mark burned.
“Yes,” I said under my breath. “I know.”
Below me, Caspian cleaned the blood from Astra’s mouth.
I had wanted to be the one waiting.
Not with a cloth. I hadn’t thought of a cloth.
That was the insult of it.
He had.
I had planned to give her an apple. Useless.
Caspian had brought something she actually needed.
When he stepped back from the threshold, Astra didn’t smile.
But her face eased.
Caspian saw it.
That made my jealousy burn even hotter.
For seeing the small thing.
For earning it.
Then he turned and walked away.
I stepped back before he could see me on the landing.
For a moment, stone hid both of us: Caspian below, walking away from the room he had not entered; me above, holding an apple I had not given.
There were several excellent jokes available.
I swallowed all of them and almost choked.
By the time I came down, the corridor was empty.
Room 114 was closed.
The apple was still bleeding in my hand.
I stood outside her door for long enough to consider making a bad decision.
Then I made a better one.
I didn’t knock.
I set the apple on the floor beside the threshold, close enough that she would see it when she opened the door.
