So that’s how it was. Caspian Ashford hadn’t needed to tell anyone I didn’t belong here. He had only needed to look as if he believed it, and the room had taken instruction.
I had no idea what he thought I had done to him, except that when my Mark had moved in attunement, his had answered.
Maybe that was enough.
Maybe at Zenith Hall, a girl’s body could offend a man before she ever opened her mouth.
I looked away from the table where Caspian sat with his friends and back to the girl across from me.
“Well, we’re already talking now. Seems wasteful to stop.”
She swallowed, then whispered, “I’m Delphine Moreau.”
“Astra Verita.”
“I know.”
“Everyone does, apparently.”
“They told us you were coming.”
I tilted my head. “Me, specifically?”
She nodded.
“And to be welcoming?”
The joke died in the air.
“And to be careful,” Delphine said.
“Of me?”
Delphine pressed her thumbnail into the edge of the bread and pursed her lips.
“Careful how?” I asked.
She looked down at her plate.
“I’m already in trouble. I shouldn’t talk about this.”
That made me look at her.
“What kind of trouble?”
“My Mark.”
She turned her arm over.
“It’s been getting worse,” she said. “I was going to tell my brother tonight. I’m not sure how much trouble it means, and I don’t want him asking questions until I know.”
I studied her Mark.
It was pale. Paler than the skin around it. It was paler than any Mark I had seen in the attunement room.
“How long has it been getting lighter?”
“Three weeks. Caswell told me it was probably normal.”
