Page 125 of Kingmakers, Year Three

Right as I reach the door, I pause and turn back.

“Snow,” I say.

He turns around, waiting.

“With Sasha . . . how did you know you were really in love?”

Snow answers without hesitation. “I knew when I was willing to do anything for her. Give anything. Risk anything.”

Then he heads back to his office, not waiting for my response.

24

THE SPY

This school year has seemed the longest yet.

I’m so tired.

I never realized what a strain all the lying would be.

The rest of the students are energized by the warming weather. For me, it has the opposite effect. Another summer rolling around—another anniversary I don’t want to mark. I never thought I’d be here three years later.

Miss Robin still hasn’t found what she’s been searching for day and night for all this time.

“If we can’t find it, maybe we should consider?—”

“No,” she snaps. “We proceed with the rest of the plan either way.”

My stomach clenches. I don’t like the rest of the plan. I’ve never liked it.

She lays her hand on my arm, looking in my eyes.

“I know this is hard for you. But it’s the only way. She’s coming here next year. She’ll be alone and unprotected.”

Kingmakers: the safest place on earth, invulnerable to attack.

Unless the enemy is already inside.

Miss Robin squeezes my arm, her fingers frightfully strong.

“This is not a world made for the gentle and the just. You are a wolf, and always have been.”

I remove her hand from my arm and hold it between my own.

“I’ll do what has to be done.”

“I know you will,” she says.

For now, I have another task at hand. Much simpler than the task awaiting me come September.

I find Cat Romero plodding across campus with her arms full of books.

Cat always looks too small to carry whatever she’s carrying. I have to resist the urge to offer to take the stack out of her hands.

“Hello Cat,” I say.

“Oh, hello,” She replies, miserably.

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