Page 11 of Reign

“He’ll understand,” is all I can say.

“He might say he does, but he’s lying. You’re the one person he doesn’t have to play games with or be one step ahead of. You’re real—you’re showing him what an actual person is like outside these walls and away from Briarcliff’s chains. If you leave, I might lose the remaining piece of him that’s been able to withstand our father’s tampering.”

My lips twitch in hesitation, but I don’t think Emma notices. “Chase will be fine. He’s strong.”

I turn for the door.

“Hey, Callie?”

“Yeah?”

Emma sucks on her cheek in thought. “This may come out strange, even though we are here for a high school diploma. But I feel like I should remind you: exams are today. Assuming your mass email doesn’t screw over the curve to epic proportions, that is.”

With any other person, I’d be concerned over Emma’s mention of exams the day after I watched Ivy die. But Emma isn’t any person. She has her own tragedies inside her and her own ways of dealing. Sarcasm and compartmentalizing are the top tools in her box.

But, the calculus final? Neither one of us has the mental bandwidth to handle that this morning.

I say to Emma on a sigh, “Fuck.”

* * *

Ahmar calls me on my walk to the academy’s main building.

“How’s it going, kiddo?”

I choose my words carefully while clomping along in the snow. “Have you found out more about the Nobles and Virtues?”

Ahmar reacts to my cheerlessness with a short, “Calla.”

“It’s bad here, Ahmar. Really bad. Ivy”—It hurts to say her name—“Ivy was killed last night.”

Silence.

My story comes out in a rush. The knife. How it cut Ivy’s throat. How she bled to death in my arms. And just … how.

“Ahmar?” I ask once the sickness surrounding my words subsides. “Are you still there?”

“Kiddo, I’m working on processing all you’ve said.”

“It’s a lot, but it’s true. I was there, and so was Chase, and Ivy … Ivy…” I end on a sob.

“Baby girl.” Ahmar’s sigh is filled with love. “I think I gotta come over there.”

Nodding vigorously, I blurt into my phone, “That’s a great idea. I don’t know if Haskins is in the societies’ pockets, but a lot of the Briarcliff PD sure are and I’m positive they’re working on covering up Ivy’s death. She was murdered, Ahmar. Just like my mom.” I halt in the middle of the walkway, the overnight snow clumped and packed to the sides. “Oh my God, Ahmar, I haven’t told you who did it—Sabine had Mom killed—”

“Callie. Honey. Take a breath.”

“I can’t, Ahmar! Don’t you see? It all comes back to the Virtues. I have the blood they’ve been looking for! They don’t want me to—”

“Jesus Christ, honey.” Ahmar’s voice grows thick before it cracks. “Please stop.”

“No! They can’t kill any more people that I love, okay? I won’t let them. I can’t let them take Chase!”

“ENOUGH!”

Ahmar’s yell has me careening, but I right myself before tripping over a mound of plowed snow.

“Sweetheart, think about what you’re saying. Think about how crazy this sounds!”

---