Page 37 of Kingmakers, Year One

“It’s not my job totalkto him!” I scoff. “Hisfamily are the traitors, and if he says another word about my mom, I’ll break his fucking jaw for him.”

“You’d better not,” Anna says darkly. “You know the rules?—”

“He’s the one?—”

“They won’t care!” Anna cuts across me. “This is exactly what Aunt Yelena was worried about?—”

“Oh, get off it,” I grumble. “I heard enough of that before I left.”

I hate when Anna acts like she’s on my parents’ side about me not going to Kingmakers. She should be happy that I came herewith her instead of taking my full ride to Duke. Does she want to be here alone? I thought she’d be thrilled that we were both experiencing this together.

The thought of going to some school without her, any school, made me sick to my stomach. She’s my best friend. We’ve always done everything together.

I know Anna cares about me. But sometimes I think she doesn’t need me the same way I need her. She’s got siblings and I don’t. I would never admit this in million years, but sometimes I’m jealous of Cara and Whelan. I hate that Anna loves them almost as much as she loves me. I don’t want her attention divided.

I know it’s ridiculous because they’re just kids. But I want to be first in her eyes, the way she is in mine. Closer than blood.

“Leo, you can’t act like that at Kingmakers,” she says, her blue eyes fixed determinedly on my face.

“Act like what?” I say stubbornly.

“You can’t act like you usually do.”

I hear the edge of fear in her voice, and that’s what makes me smother my flippant retort. Anna isn’t scared of anything usually.

“I know,” I admit. “I know it’s not high school anymore. I’ll be careful.”

“You promise?” Anna says.

“Yes. I promise.”

“Alright.” She gives me a small smile, leaning back in the hammock and picking up her book once more.

She’s reading an ancient, battered copy ofLord of the Flies.

“Let me guess,” I say. “Your suitcase is full of books you’ve already read.”

Anna smiles just a little.

“Not full,” she says. “But yeah, about half of it.”

“They have a library at Kingmakers, you know.”

“I don’t care,” she says. “This belonged to the Other Anna.”

Anna is named after her aunt, who died a long time before she was born.

Anna has a strange reverence for this namesake she never met. She talks about the Other Anna like her guardian angel. Like a piece of her soul lives inside of Anna herself.

I’m jealous of the Other Anna, too. A girl who died thirty years ago.

That’s how stupid I can be.

I’ve never been able to be rational when it comes to Anna.

“How much longer till we get to the island?” Ares asks, from beneath his t-shirt.

“I dunno,” I say. “All I see is ocean.”

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