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“You stopped being a normal student years ago.”
I snort. “Fair enough.”
Then Mom’s voice cuts in from somewhere in the background. “Good morning, darling.”
“You’re both weirdly awake this early,” I mutter. “Dad said you wanted to talk?”
“I did.” Mom hums. “You sound very pleased with yourself.”
I take another drag from the cigarette before glancing back through the open terrace door at Rowan sleeping beneath my sheets. Fuck, he looks beautiful like that. “Maybe.”
“Darling.”
I roll my eyes toward the sky. “Mom.”
The amusement fades from her voice. “All right, listen to me for a second. Last night, I couldn’t stop thinking about the notes that boy played during the Legacy Gala. Remember, before he started his concert?”
I frown at the sleeping city, because no, I don’t remember. My mind was too occupied observing him, not paying attention to his music.
Mom sighs as if she was expecting that. “He played a warm-up sequence before opening his etude. And it…it sounded familiar.”
“Familiar, how?”
“Let’s just say, that sequence is very familiar to me, and I honestly thought I would never hear it again.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that if I’m right, Rowan Ashford is far more connected to this than either of us initially believed.”
“Connected to what? Stop talking in riddles, Mom. He’s not from our world, that much I know for sure.”
“I’m not so sure yet, darling. The only thing I know is that something has people nervous. The Reach voted against changes, meaning the Orlov family will stay banned from Sero for at least another three years. Their representative announced that the family was displeased with the result. Of course they were.”
The vote happened the night of the Legacy Gala. Somewhere behind the music and the gold, in rooms I never saw.
“What does Rowan have to do with all of that? Of course they wouldn’t be happy, and if they want trouble, they only have to say it out loud.”
I honestly expect her to call me out on that one, but instead she’s just quiet for a moment. “There were rumors the Orlovs fled to Düren after the initial ban. And Vera… Vera vanished entirely. No one ever confirmed where she went.”
The name snags on something. Halvern in the music wing, talking about Mom’s old rival. “Your academy rival? That Vera?”
“The very same, darling. She never did learn how to lose.”
Düren. The word finally catches up with me, and I shake my head, though she can’t see me. “No way that Rowan has anything to do with those snakes.”
Dad snorts somewhere behind her, but Mom and I both ignore him.
“I’m not saying that, darling. But our guards flagged multiple aristocrat families walking around Sero armed. And now Lucian Marrow has started moving security across half his properties. You know what that means, right?”
“Retaliation,” Dad barks from the background. “They’re waiting for trouble to come knocking on our door.”
My mind is fucking spinning. The violence I can live with. Please, thank you, bring it on. But I still don’t get what Mom wants with Rowan.
“So what now?” I ask her. “Want to create a time bomb? See what happens when it explodes?”
I can practically feel her warm, comforting smile. “No, darling. But if families like the Marrows are walking around armed to the teeth, people are expecting something. And that means for us, that security will continue to flag anything unusual. I want to hear him play again.”
“You—what?”
