BLUE BLOOD

16 | that was a lie

Avery wanted to say something to me but Shannon pulled me aside, waving him away, "You can speak to her later."

"No," Avery gritted his teeth in irritation, "I can't, not when we're not sharing the same suite."

A flash of panic ran through my eyes and Avery realized he just gave us away.

"What?" Shannon demanded, and I felt the eyes and ears lingering on us. "What do you mean?"

Avery opened his mouth but he was at a loss of what to say. I quickly cut in. "He's kidding. We're... only sleeping in separate suites because we can't get any sleep if we share the same room."

My heart pounded in anxiety. Shit. Shit shit shit. At least Erik wasn't in this room but that wasn't much consolation because cunning smiles were spreading on Satin and Gloria's faces.

"Blake and I share," Helen said, slowly, curiosity in her eyes.

"Well," I gave her a tight smile, "We aren't the two of you."

Avery recovered and gave her that smooth, devastating smile. "Frankly, Helen, we trust each other."

That was a lie.

I edged closer to Avery, feeling my body heighten with awareness. What would happen if they figured out we lied to them? I wasn't sure I wanted to know because it might make them dig deep into my past...

"Waiting until marriage?" Shannon broke the tension with a snort of disbelief. I had never been more grateful for Avery's older sister. "What the hell have you done to him, Vesper?"

Kalina snorted. "Avery restrained himself?"

"Let's go, dear Vesper," Shannon said, dragging me away from all of them despite Avery's protest. "I want to shit talk my brother in private."

"We aren't doing that, are we?" I asked, once we were out of earshot.

We were going up the back stairs and curiously, Shannon chose the longer, twisting hallways that went deeper into the estate. If she hadn't grown up in this place, I knew for sure that we would have gotten lost.

Why were we taking the long way to get to our rooms?

"I like you Vesper," Shannon told me quietly, her bubbly personality ebbing away. "And I don't want you to become someone I could have prevented."

"I don't know what you mean," I responded slowly, unsure how to approach this girl who I thought naïve.

"You do," Shannon smiled faintly, looking back over her shoulders, "No matter how well you hide it. You're exactly like him."

"Who?" Second floor up.

"My brother," she tossed me a look. "But less annoying, more attractive, and kinder."

"Thanks," I muttered, "but that isn't saying much."

Shannon cracked a smile before turning serious. "It's the ranking exams. This is Queens Academy, Vesper. The rankings are the only academic thing anybody cares about. Nobody, and I mean nobody, even us, wants to place low."

"Even you guys?" I looked at her in doubt. They seemed to only care about their delusions.

"Yes. The exams are incorruptible. They just are. That's what makes them so important because they're purely based on merit and talent. There are no makeup days for these exams to ensure that every person attends. No exceptions, even if you are a Du Sang."

"That's why they're administered at a surprise date," I nodded, piecing it together with this information. "Everyone gets a one day warning."

"We all have the means to be anywhere anytime," Shannon shrugged, staring down at her manicured nails. "Perks of being rich, I guess."