Page 48 of Reign

My mouth trembles with the need to hurl insults. My eyes sear into his with the desperation to hurt him as much as he’s killing me. I say in a low, unrecognizable voice, while keeping my eyes on him, “I chose the wrong person to save.”

A muscle tics in Chase’s cheek, yet his stare doesn’t waver.

But I know I’ve hurt him. I know it, and I can’t control it once it starts. “You’re the last person to dole out love advice. Your mother wants nothing to do with you. Your sister despises you. Your father uses you like an object and can’t wait to discard you once you’ve proven your worth. You’re trying to tell me blood means family? None of them have affection for you. I can’t even call it goodwill.” Chase’s lashes flutter close to a flinch. My stomach pitches at how hard he’s working not to show emotion, but I forge through the nausea. “Look down on me and my lack of a blood relative all you want, but that only means I have people with no obligation to me who care anyway. You have no idea what that’s like, and you never will.”

I press my hand to my abdomen, noting the flutter there—butterfly wings of sentiment. I mean what I’m saying. Dad, Lynda, Ahmar, Blair … they may not be tied to me through DNA, but we’re something. We could be a family, if I at last opened that door instead of staying in the locked compartment of my mind with my dead mother.

But I can’t leave her behind.

Brave hollers and applause echo to the arched ceilings. We’ve drawn even more of a crowd than I thought, but Chase doesn’t acknowledge them. He simply stares in silence, assessing the few feet between us.

“Big words for a discarded orphan. You were shipped back here as soon as they could.”

So much blood has collected in my cheeks that my ears ring. But I raise my chin. “I don’t need your acceptance to keep going to this school. I certainly don’t need it to claim my rightful place.”

Chase’s lips twitch. His eyes narrow. “If you do that, you’ll be making a terrible mistake.”

“Too late.” I point to Falyn, now part of the audience, the murderous gleam of her teeth visible from here. “I’ve already sent in my request. It’s done.”

Chase scans the crowd. He can disparage me all he wants, but the Nobles’ long-reaching gag order strangles him from voicing any displeasure at my continued role in the Virtues.

I latch onto that weakness and stand tall. “You tried to scare me away last semester and failed. I’m not going anywhere, Chase Stone. The only difference being, now I’m here for blood.”

Spinning on my heel, I push to the exit, finding Eden in the outskirts of the still-forming crowd and pull her along with me.

“Holy shit, what’s gotten into you?” she breathes out as she tries to keep up with my steps.

I don’t trust myself to speak until we’re well away and turning into the South Wing. Facing down Chase is too much. My heart is crumbling in my hands.

I hide it all when I say, “I’ve decided to no longer take any bullshit.”

“Hey, I’m down with you beating up Falyn and putting Chase in his place—that was baller, by the way—but what was that whole thing with Falyn? Are you really—I mean, do you seriously still want to be a Virtue?”

“It’s the only way,” I say as we wander deeper into the South Wing. New semester, new classes. Philosophy is my first of the day.

“To show Sabine you’re not afraid?”

“Not quite.” We’re approaching my classroom door, first period having started ten minutes ago, and I slow my steps. “To prove she killed my mother.”

“Shit. Okay.”

“Find Emma after first period and meet me in the gym bathrooms. We all need to talk.”

“You don’t say?” Eden says dryly, then splits off from me.

I watch her until she disappears into her classroom, then push into mine, beginning my morning of pretending to be a normal teenager in an average high school, starting my last semester of senior year fresh-faced and filled with revenge.

17

Callie

Normally, I’d be calling an emergency meeting with Ivy, popping open a bottle of wine, both of us sitting on my bed while I asked her to tell me everything about the Virtue robing ceremony and what I should expect.

She’d hug me with reassurance—I know that. Insist on standing beside me in support. And she’d do everything in her power to help me avoid any surprises … except for that time she revealed herself as a Virtuous princess after I almost drowned, and then decimated our plans to break into the temple and steal Sabine’s files…

On second thought, Ivy would be terrible to doomsday prep with, but the ache between my ribs every time I think about her makes me want her here more than ever.

I miss you, Ivy.

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