Page 45 of Reign

Emma cuts him a look.

“Yes,” I say, but I’m thinking about Callie on the New York City streets. Vulnerable and exposed with secrets, lies, and betrayals shadowing her every step.

Emma’s wrong on one point—what happens to us doesn’t stay at Briarcliff. It can’t.

“Now that we’ve cleared that up,” Tempest says, at last rising from his lupine position on the chair. “Anybody going to ‘fess up on who Callie’s dad is?”

“No,” Emma and I bark at the same time. I jolt, then send her a confused brow raise.

“It’ll only serve to distract her,” Emma says, meeting my stare with a flat one of her own. “I know more than you think, dear brother. Like I said: I’ve earned your respect.”

“Duly noted,” I murmur, then watch her as she pivots and exits the room, shutting the door with a punctuated smack.

“Well, that’s no fun,” Tempest pouts, but reaches for the blunt and takes in a satisfied inhale. “I only enjoy secrets when I’m in on them.”

“I’ll keep you busy,” I say, still staring at the door. “Emma may think she’s been biding her time without notice, but she won’t protect Callie the way she protects herself. Callie’s in incredible danger, and if Callie returns to school”—which sadly, I know she will—“we have to hunt down Sabine’s traps before she falls into one.”

“At the same time we fuck with her, isolate her, and make her regret ever setting foot in Briarcliff Academy.” Tempest angles his head thoughtfully. “Okay. I’ll bite. That sounds fun.”

“This isn’t for your amusement. Girls are dying on my watch—I don’t want any more blood on my hands.”

Callie’s, especially. Just thinking of her slack form in my arms, her chin tipped to the sky, her eyes milky with death, causes an unfamiliar, aching shudder starting at the base of my spine and ending with my stomach plummeting through the Earth.

My lips pull down. I don’t like this feeling at all.

“Relax, Prince. Callie isn’t in immediate danger. Sabine won’t kill her on sight.” Tempest flicks the end of the blunt into the ashtray. “The whole point of having prey is so you can toy with them, first.”

16

Callie

Every step back into Briarcliff Academy makes me shudder.

I force myself to the top, then through the doors, refusing to tip my chin up to the Wolf’s Den, in case Chase is up there, lording over the underclassmen as we all return from winter break.

Something jostles my shoulder, then the statement, “Did you keep it or scrape it out with a coat hanger?” flies against my ears.

Grimacing, I push forward, ignoring the sneers and judgmental stares.

Chase. Chase did this.

Amid the societal backstabbing, the scandal, and the murders, he decided it was a good time to continue the cruelty, giving a forbidden pregnancy a go, since it worked so well with Piper.

The gall of him. The absolute deplorable nature he would’ve had to reach into to make this happen and keep it going well after the holidays … my upper lip curls in disgust.

I have to remember what it was like to see Sylvie, and what it looks like to forgive yourself for all your mistakes—that it doesn’t all have to be bad. Good things and happy endings can still happen when we’re at our worst.

I don’t have to keep being this way.

Turning into my locker area, I’m jostled again. “So, what’s it like?”

Without glancing up from my padlock, I snap, “Being pregnant with a disgraced teacher’s baby? I dunno, what’s it like embracing yet another unoriginal rumor because your big, bad prince told you to—” I stop as soon as I whip around. “Oh. Hey, Eden.”

Her brows jump. “Hey yourself. I just wanted to know what it was like meeting your new sister, but hey, if you’ve got baggage to unload, I’m your luggage carrier.”

Sighing, I lean my shoulder against the locker beside mine. “You haven’t heard?”

“That you’re preggo? Nope.” She cocks her head. “Are you? Because that’d be a twist.”

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