Total pages in book: 210
Estimated words: 200837 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1004(@200wpm)___ 803(@250wpm)___ 669(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 200837 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1004(@200wpm)___ 803(@250wpm)___ 669(@300wpm)
No. She’s nervous because… she likes me?
Or… she had a bad day? That can’t be it. She looks amazing. She had a day at the spa and the Maiden District couturier’s full attention.
She had a bad yesterday. That’s why she didn’t come. Something happened.
Mitch comes back leading a train of servers and cooks. When he opens the door and steps aside, they file through. He sighs one last time, then backs out of my palace and closes the doors behind him.
I turn to Jasina. “You’re sad.”
“What? No.” She smiles, still nervous, but also still sad.
“Yes, you are. What is it? What happened yesterday?” Her face falls into a frown and I knew it. I knew I was right. “Come on.” I take her hand and tug her in the direction of the dining room. “Let’s eat before everything gets cold.”
She doesn’t resist. Simply allows me the privilege of taking her into the dining room where two places have been set and enough food has been put out to feed a party of eight. “I told them to just cook it up and we’d eat buffet style.”
Jasina nearly snorts. “Oh, my god. Were your cooks furious?”
“Probably. But they get the night off. What do they care? Grab a plate, fill it up, and tell me who made you so sad you didn’t want to come see me last night.”
She grabs a plate but doesn’t meet my eyes. “Why do you think that’s what happened? Maybe I just don’t like you?”
“Please. You like me. Tell me you don’t.”
She’s putting little bits of food on her plate, so she doesn’t say anything for a few moments. Not until she’s picked out what she wants and can no longer avoid it. Her blue eyes are a little bit glassy when they meet mine. And this is when I notice that they are not the cyan-blue color of the canal like Clara’s.
They are royal blue. The blue of ancient kings and queens. The blue of sapphires. The blue of butterflies.
She opens her mouth and I’m expecting another excuse or maybe an apology for looking sad. But instead, she tells me the truth. The whole story about Donal Oslin pushing her into a nook and her aunt slapping her across the face comes spilling out right there as we stare at each other from across a spread of food.
When she’s finished, I look her straight in the eyes and make a promise. “She will never do that to you again. And as for Donal, I know his father. I will—”
“No.” Jasina puts up a hand. “No. I don’t want you to say anything. To either of them. Just… let it go.”
“Fuck that. No. He needs to pay for what he did. I don’t have any power over Matrons, but she’s not gonna have another reason to slap you ever, Jasina. Because tonight, you and I are gonna figure out that room. And then we’re gonna tell her everything we know.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Iblink at Finn, surprised. “What? Why? Why would you do that?”
“I thought that’s what you wanted? For the Rebellion to succeed?”
“Well, in the beginning, I did.”
“The beginning of what? We’ve known each other three days. This is the beginning.”
“The beginning of three days ago, then. I’m mad at my auntie. She’s not the person I thought she was. In fact, I’m not sure this whole Rebellion is what I thought it was.” My shoulders drop and I sigh, feeling a bit defeated. “I left one part out.”
He raises an eyebrow at me. “Of your bad day?”
“Yeah. My friends turned against me too. For as long as I can remember it’s been me, Ceela, Harlow, Britley, and Lucindy. We’ve been a team in the Rebellion. But now, all of a sudden, they’re… jealous, or something. I don’t know. They’re suspicious.”
“Of what?”
“Of me. They think I’m keeping secrets. And you should’ve seen the looks I got from them when I left for my spa day this morning. I think my auntie turned them against me.”
He sighs a little, then shrugs up one shoulder. “OK. Fine. We don’t tell them shit. But you want to know what that room is, right?”
“Why do you even care what I want?”
“Because… well… you’re like this teeny, tiny ray of red-haired hope leaking into a pitch-black room from underneath a door, Jasina. I’ve lost the only three people I ever considered family. First, my father died, then I found out my mother’s part of the Matron cult, and then I sent the woman I love through the tower doors. The only people I have left are Jeyk and Mitch.”
I make a face at the mention of Mitchell Davies, which Finn does not miss.
“What? What’s that look for?”
“Nothing. It’s none of my business.”
“No, tell me.”
“I just don’t understand why you’re friends with that guy.”
“Which one?”