A heavy feeling twists in my gut. “She might not want a reminder of what that man did to her. And I’m walking, talking evidence of the rape.”
“Theo, she is going to love you so hard, I know it. I know her.”
I hope so.
I hope I live long enough for that conversation with Opal to happen.
“OK, I’ve got to split. See you at lunch?” Willow says, wiping chocolate custard off her cheek.
“See you then.”
My morning is taken up with Dr. Proctor’s potions class. I don’t try very hard to concentrate, my mind is taken up with the student tinkering with ingredients across the lab.
François de Vaux.
AKA.
My brother.
He’s only a few months older than me, so his mother must have been pregnant when Crankshawe raped Opal.
I can’t blame François for his parentage, any more than I’m responsible for mine. But the fact that he’s fully Conclave and has already ascended?
Nope.
Nope, with a big fat no.
For once, I’m glad I can’t read the minds of ascended Elites. I don’t want to know him at all. Every time I look at him, my skin prickles, and I’m trying to put out of my mind that we’re related, but being in class after class together, I get sucked in.
Trying to look for similarities. Mannerisms. Looks. Anything.
Because whatever we have in common will be from Crankshawe, and in that case I want to stamp it out.
Even if it means plucking out my own eyeballs.
Luckily, François does not have light gray eyes like me. He’s all sharp angles and dark, sardonic stares.
Like he can sense my gaze, he turns, meeting my eyes and raising a questioning eyebrow.
I look away feeling trapped.
The smell of the burning chemicals, the heat of the bunsen burners. François de Vaux.
I’d give anything to run out of here, but, obviously, I can’t.
Especially with the guards posted at the classroom doors.
No, I just have to continue listening to Dr. Proctor droning on about nightshade extract.
Suddenly, a familiar presence brushes against my mind. Alexis.
—Theo. Listen.—
I keep swirling my Anther-glass flask. —What’s up?—
—I heard from Cosmo—
Ah yes, my new friend Cosmo Drakeward. He’s at the Singleton-Smith estate today, going over final details with the party planner.
