Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 44009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 220(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 220(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
I read over the information, hoping to find something that could give me a clue. Maybe I could talk to this woman in person, and she could tell me more than what was on this sheet of paper. However, the more I read, more hope withered away.
“She was only enrolled until her sophomore year. She just… left,” I muttered beneath my breath as I narrowed my eyes in confusion. Why would she suddenly leave in the middle of her school career?
“It doesn’t say why?” Buffy asked, giving me a perplexed look.
I continued reading through the information printed on the paper. There wasn’t much, but the last line caught my eye.
“She disappeared,” I said, a sinking feeling settling in my stomach. People didn’t just disappear. Something worse always happened.
“Disappeared?” Buffy questioned me.
“Around the time the Kings’ fathers left the school too,” I told her, meeting her eyes as tension settled around us. There had to be a connection. At this point, I couldn’t believe in coincidences. There were too many secrets, too many things at stake.
“What now?” Buffy asked.
A frown crossed my face as I sighed and shook my head.
“I have no idea.”
CHAPTER 12
ZEPHYR
My fingertips caressed the edges of stiff pages as I held an old book in my hands. It was a story about leadership, royalty, and glory. Thousands of people throughout history had been rulers, showing their power and influence in a thousand different ways. It made me think about what kind of leader I wanted to be. How did I want to rule?
Though, it was hard to focus on my reigning future when the one woman I cared about lingered by my suite window, peering out at the world with a distracted gaze. She had been staring out of that window for the past thirty minutes, standing in pure silence while I tried to focus on the words in front of me. I had reread the same page ten times, and I still didn’t know what it said.
She was putting me on edge. I ground my teeth slightly as I peered at her, my grip tightening on my book. She hardly spoke a word to me. She hadn’t been the easiest to find too. Part of me wondered if she was trying to distance herself from me. When people started acting strange and distant out of the blue, something bad was going on.
“What’s distracting you so much?” I asked her as I snapped my book shut, casting it aside as I sat up more in bed.
Biba didn’t look away from the window. Instead, she chewed on her bottom lip as she shook her head.
“Nothing,” she replied, crossing her arms over her chest as she fell silent once more.
I narrowed my eyes, not believing her. If nothing was wrong, she would’ve been laid out in bed beside me instead of way over there by the window. I rose from the bed, stalking toward her and seeing her shoulders tense slightly as I got closer. I stopped behind her left shoulder, leaning closer to her ear.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. I wasn’t going to drop this.
“Nothing, Zephyr.” Biba sighed, finally turning to face me. She looked conflicted, worried.
“I’m not going to ask again, Biba. You’ve been acting strange,” I replied, taking another step closer.
Biba matched my movement by stepping back, nearly being pressed up against the window. She swallowed hard as she stared at me like she was calculating her next move. That grated on my nerves.
“I’m just stressed about this exam I have to study for,” she told me.
I wished that she would tell me the truth. The more that she lied from me, the less I could trust her. I wanted her to have my trust, my soul, my heart. How could I let someone so close when they could take that kindness and stab me in the back with it?
“An exam is worrying you this much? So much that it’s hard for you to look me in the eye?” I questioned her, tilting my head in a threatening manner. She was forcing my hand. I wanted to be gentle with her, to caress her and protect her, but she was pulling away.
Even if I yearned for her, I wasn’t going to beg her to stay, to be loyal. I didn’t beg, but I gave chances. One chance. The choice was left to her, and I hoped that she chose right. She didn’t want to see what happened if she chose wrong, and I didn’t want to have to enact that.
I’d already made a weighted decision by allowing Arvo into a pledge involving her. I gave up some of my power by letting someone else have anything to do with her. I trusted her enough to do that. She’d better not make me out to be a fool by betraying me.