I took the stairs down before my body could make a stronger argument.
The east preparation rooms were two floors down and one corridor over, in the part of the school where my presence had never been wanted. I took the back stair because the main stair would have meant too many curious eyes.
By the time I reached the upper east corridor, Astra’s pain had overwhelmed mine.
I had never been grateful for my own body failing me before, but I would have taken that over this any day.
I stopped before the last turn.
Voices carried from the preparation room.
Caswell’s, flat enough to be used as a ruler.
Cosima’s, quieter.
Astra’s, once.
No.
One word.
Clear enough to reach the stair where I had been pretending not to wait.
The Pull answered it through my chest.
Brave girl,I thought, and shocked myself immediately for how much pride was in it.
Not mine to approve of.
In a matter of days, the Council meant to make her Caspian Ashford’s, and anything I did against that had to be weighed against what it would cost her.
Still, the pride came anyway, bright and inconvenient.
I stayed where the corridor bent. Close enough to hear if the room became something worse. Far enough that no one could honestly call me part of it unless they were already planning to lie, which meant I had improved nothing but my own conscience.
The small basin inside the room lit.
I felt it before I saw the silver leak under the door.
A message.
The silence afterward told me enough.
When the door opened, Rev came out first with a tray of pins.
Reverie LeJoi could walk out of a sealed Council chamber where she didn’t belong with a tray of pins and somehow no one even questioned it. Never ceased to amaze me.
Cosima followed with her notebook, back straight, as official-looking as ever.
Then, finally, Astra.
She carried the black dress box in both arms. Her mother’s brooch shone against her coat. She was pale. Terrified, I thought. Then, because I was apparently determined to be a fool: beautiful.
My Mark answered before I could stop it.
Astra saw me.
Only for a second.
