Page 91 of Kingmakers, Year Two

“You’re the one who picked him!” Anna reminds Leo. “We won the second challenge!”

“Dean won it,” Leo laughs.

“Under your excellent leadership,” she gives him a light kiss on the mouth.

I see Miles and Zoe exchange another glance. Probably wishing they could be affectionate whenever and wherever they like. Wishing that, like Anna and Leo, their marriage contract was a license to date and not a prison sentence.

“Well,” I sigh. “I’d better get going. I’m supposed to work on a coding project with Rakel this afternoon.”

“She talking to you now?” Chay laughs.

“Sometimes!” I say. “A lot, actually.”

“I bet poor Anna wishes I’d give her the silent treatment once in a while,” Chay says, grinning at Anna.

“Only after midnight,” Anna grumbles.

I climb down from the bleachers, planning to head to the computer lab in the Keep.

Heavy footsteps follow after me. I turn, expecting to see Leo or Miles, or maybe even Ares. Instead, I find Hedeon only an arm’s reach away.

“Oh, hello,” I say. “You have a class in the Keep, too?”

“No,” Hedeon says shortly.

He still looks pale and out of sorts. I don’t think he enjoyed the fights at all.

I don’t expect him to walk with me or talk to me either. We may have danced together at Halloween, but Hedeon and I are not friends. I’m sure the dancing was purely out of necessity—there’s a dearth of girls at Kingmakers, and Chay, Anna, and Zoe were already occupied.

So I’m surprised when Hedeon keeps pace with me, silent and scowling, like a grouchy, elongated shadow.

“You’re good at those hacking classes, huh?” he says abruptly.

“Uh, sure . . . good enough,” I reply. “I’m learning.”

“You have access to the school computers?”

“Yes . . .” I say hesitantly. “Limited access.”

“Could you get more?”

He’s watching me with sharp blue eyes under the straight, dark slashes of his brows. His voice is calm, but I hear the hidden edge underneath, like a razor blade buried in a cupcake.

I stop walking. “What are you asking me, exactly?”

Hedeon grabs my arm and pulls me into the shadow of the Armory, out of the flow of students heading toward the Keep.

“I want to know if you could hack into the school server.”

“I have no idea,” I say, staring up into his face. “I wouldn’t try.”

“I could pay you,” Hedeon says. I hear the urgency now, how badly he wants this.

I should just tell him no. I shouldn’t even be discussing this. But I’m prickling with curiosity.

I used to mind my own business. I used to be timid and safe.

Ever since I came to Kingmakers, I’ve become much more inquisitive. There’s a world of secrets and lies all around me. I’d like to know the answers to a few things . ..

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