chapter thirty-six

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Avery handed Nora a set of travel tissues with a gentle smile as Nora passed her reception desk. Nora used them to cleaned herself up as much as possible as she followed Eli and Lizzie to another room not far from Jackson's office. She tucked the crumpled tissues into her jean pocket. She would have to launder them anyway before returning them to Lizzie. As soon as she found a trash bin, she'd get rid of them.

Eli's arm was around Nora's shoulder, his presence a solid weight at her side. Lizzie chatted as they strolled through the halls. "I have some connections, and I've gotten you a spot at Rayne Academy if you want it," Lizzie said flicking a quick glance over her shoulder at Nora.

Nora's feet stopped. "Y-you—?"

Could this day get any better than it was? A part of her wanted to jump for joy.

She would take every opportunity the Leonger family was willing to give her. And somehow, at the end of it, she'd find a way to pay these people back for all of it.

In her own way, of course.

"The uniforms aren't as cool as Jostlin's," Lizzie was saying, as if this conversation wasn't momentous for Nora. "But I figured if Eli wanted, I could pull some strings and get him into Rayne as well so you don't have to be alone. That is, if Eli's willing to transfer mid-year."

Nora shook her head, though Lizzie couldn't see it. "Eli, you only have half a semester until you graduate. You don't have to—"

"If you want me there," Eli said, "then I'm there."

Creator, she loved Eli Leonger. Truly, positively, loved him.

She wrapped her arm around his waist and squeezed. "Thank you, but I don't think it makes sense to transfer now. I'll be fine on my own. I promise."

There's my Nora, Eli thought to her.

Her cheeks heated.

"Glad that's settled," Lizzie said as they turned down another hall, this one wide and just as opulent as the others, with gold trim and extravagant landscape pieces evenly spaced along the walls. "I had my assistant leave your new phone in your room, so you're all set there. Once you have a moment, be sure to give your father's lawyer a call. He left a message with Avery this morning – something about your inheritance being secure." Lizzie beamed at Nora over her shoulder. "Oh, and something about being a shareholder for Dreame."

Lizzie stopped at another door.

"I think...I think I need a moment to take all this in," Nora said. Her mind whirled a million miles a minute. She needed to sit down, to try and digest everything. To clutch tight the light that radiated out from her chest. She was surprised it didn't spear out of her fingertips as it swallowed her whole. Even Felicity's note on Musetunes about Nora couldn't touch this weightless, warm feeling.

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