My chest flutters, and neither Kenneth nor I will ever accept that. “Maybe I am. But maybe I don’t want you to. I don’t know how or why or what cruel fate has led my heart to you in this manner, Harriet, but I know I love you.” From the first moment she took every dull moment in my world and brightened it into something more.
Her laughter is broken, her eyes trembling with disbelief. “You hardly know me. I will not be yet another tool for you to use to escape the rich confines of your lavish tower. I agreed to revenge. I could tolerate being a rich lord’s tool for revenge if it ended with my own freedom. But this—”
I reel her in, clamp her waist to mine. She fights me with everything she has—until the moment I touch her face. Silence breathes through her limbs, and her eyes cling to mine.
“I promise,” I whisper, but in my head I hear the words boom out across the auditorium, over countless souls looking on, “you are no mere distraction. You are what might make existence tolerable for the rest of my eternity. I love you, little magpie.”
The kiss. A mere brush. A stunned moment.
Harriet breaks out of my arms, covers her mouth, fixes me with a look that could break my heart.
I watch a swallow pass through her throat.
“You’ll have your revenge, my lord,” she states—the words sterile and distant and shattered through with a thousand untraceable emotions. “And I’ll have my money. That is where we start. And that is where we end.”
In a heartbreaking instant, Harriet turns on her heel and darts away. I can almost see the flutter of her feathers as she rips out my heart.
“Scene,” Mr. D’plume calls, scratching his head. Stuffing my hands in my pockets, I drop Kenneth off a bridge and look down at him. He searches through his copy of the script, his brows raised and focused. “‘Broken Wings’ comes after Harriet’s brief interlude. Ms. Kole?”
Calypso walks out from behind the curtain, pale, and I glance past her to find Agatha standing there, a viper’s smirk curling her lips. Calypso doesn’t say a word as she hugs one arm across her waist and barely glances at Mr. D’plume.
“Do you want to run through Harriet’s lines for the interlude, or should we get started with ‘Broken Wings’?”
She finds me, but her gaze slips off before I can really catch her eye. “I need a break.”
Mr. D’plume raises a brow, and his lips purse, but he doesn’t so much as question it. “Okay. Mr. Reeves and Ms. Armont. We’ll take this scene from the top.”
Calypso turns down the steps and begins making her way through a lane of seats and out of the auditorium. I follow, passing Agatha as she takes to the stage. The girl lifts her chin, smug. I hold back a groan.
Calypso stops at the water fountain in the hall, and I catch up to her, leaning against the wall, crossing one ankle over the other. “What did she say?”
“Hm?” Calypso looks up at me, all the defeat I saw radiating off her gone in an instant. Her gaze drifts, and she finishes getting her drink before tossing her braids over her shoulders and saying, “Something about how easy it must be for me to pretend to fall in love with someone I already cater to. In every little way.”
I stiffen, a hundred ideas of exactly what that means bombarding me with horrible thoughts.
Calypso’s eyes roll. “I’m over it. She’s clearly just jealous that I get muffins in class.” She steps up to me, her fingers dancing down my arms, guiding my hands to her hips.
Resting my back against the wall, I stand firm, coaxing Calypso closer. “You’re sure that’s all she’s jealous of?”
“Don’t be a narcissist,Alexander.”
I laugh. “I’m talking about your talents, sugar. Not me. Flattered though that you’d think such a thing, even though I’m just the pervert who has no qualms about entering the girls’ bathroom.”
Calypso winces, like she’s about to say something, but the door to the auditorium opens, and Rebecca walks out, her eyes widening on us. Neither of us makes any effort at distancing ourselves.
Rebecca points a finger at each of us. “Did I miss something? I’m going to be so upset if I missed you two getting together. I’ve been championing that from day one.”
“We’re not dating,” Calypso offers.
I back the sentiment up. “It’s true.”
“Right. You’re just embracing alone in the hallway.” Rebecca’s smile is overly enthusiastic. “I came to see if Caly was okay, but you seem to have it more than under control.”
I don’t think I have anything to do with it. I turn my attention down to Calypso, mildly enchanted with the way she’s toying with one of my hoodie strings. “Why are you faking lettingAgatha bother you still, if you’re over it?”
Rebecca moves in on us. “Wait, wait, wait. Faking?”
Calypso ties a bow. “Because. It’s easier.”
