Page 16 of Take My Throne

Chapter Six

“Ican’t do it. I won’t do it.”

I stay in my seat, secure in the safety of the car. My father insisted Lucas and I go to school the Monday after the ball and there is no way I am ever going to step foot in that place, not when everyone would know by now who was responsible for shooting Claude.

“Yes, you can.” Lucas is patient, even after reassuring me a million times. “It won’t be as bad as you think. Claude’s okay.”

“He’s in a hospital wired up to a machine to keep him alive, Lucas,” I wail. “How can you possibly think that’s okay?”

“He’s still alive,” Lucas reminds me. “And he’s in the hands of the best doctors in the country. He might be in bad shape now, but our intelligence tells us that he’s going to pull through. Ivy, much as I know it hurt you to do what you did, that shot has raised your profile big time. You might hate your father for forcing you into it, but trust me. He did you a favour. He’s established you as a force to be reckoned with.” He smiles reassuringly. “No one’s going to judge you. It’s just business, another day in this crazy town. Come on. I’ll be right by your side. I’m in all your classes. You won’t have to face anyone alone, not unless you want to.”

He holds out a hand to me and I know I don’t have a choice. My father has dictated that we go back to the Academy, so that’s what we are going to do.

Hand in hand, Lucas and I slowly walk up the steps to the Academy. Is it my imagination, or are people giving me weird looks?

“Keep your head high, Ivy,” Lucas whispers, squeezing my hand. “You haven’t done anything wrong, not as far as the Houses are concerned. Everyone’s going to respect you.”

“Still.” I shake my head. “I feel really uncomfortable being here.”

“Why don’t we go to one of the practice rooms?” Lucas suggests. “We can hide out there until classes start.”

“Okay.”

I feel a little more relaxed as Lucas leads the way to the practice rooms. A-level music students are allowed to go there whenever we like to work on our assignments, which means that we have keys to the rooms to unlock them-–and lock them behind us. In the past, those locks had allowed me and Declan to have some privacy while we explored each other’s bodies. Now I am grateful for that privacy for a completely different reason-–it means I can delay the moment when I have to face Declan. How on earth am I going to look him in the eye knowing I am the one responsible for putting his father in the hospital.

The music rooms are fully soundproof, so you can’t hear whether someone is practising inside. Instead, there are red and green lights mounted over the doors so you could immediately see which ones were available.

The first couple of rooms have their red lights lit, but the third one is green, so Lucas pushes the door open. The room should have been empty, but then I see who is sitting at the piano waiting for us.

“Declan!” I try to back out, but Lucas grips my hand tightly and practically drags me into the room to confront the one person I don’t want to see.

“What’s she doing here?” Declan stands up, fists clenched. “I thought you said you wanted to talk. If I’d known you were going to bring her along, I’d never have agreed to meet you.”

“She’s the one you need to talk to though,” Lucas tells him.

“She shot my dad. I’ve got nothing to say to her.”

My heart shatters into a million pieces as Declan turns away from me.

“It wasn’t her fault,” Lucas says. “Her father forced her to do it.”

“She could have said no.”

“Declan, her father was going to have his guard stick a knife in her hand. She would never have been able to play guitar again. And I don’t think that would have been the end of it, either. She did what she did out of pure fear. You and I both know that Solomon would have found a way to punish her beyond that.”

“Is this true, Ivy?” Declan finally looks at me.

“Yes.” I drop my head, unable to meet his gaze. “I didn’t want to do it, I really didn’t. But Martin was about to shove a knife through my hand. My instincts took over and I pulled the trigger. I aimed to miss though. I’m such a bad shot, I hit the target, but I really didn’t mean to. If I could turn back time, I would. I’d take a stabbing over hurting you, hurting your dad.”

I burst into tears, burying my face in my hands to hide my shame. I hate myself for being so weak, but it’s all too much. I hate my father for putting me in this situation.

I feel arms around me, I relax into the hug... thinking it’s Lucas. But when I look up, I see Declan is the one comforting me.

“I’ll leave you two alone,” Lucas says.

Declan follows him to the door, and I am sure I hear him thank Lucas. As my husband leaves, Declan locks the door behind him so we won’t be disturbed.

“Lucas arranged for us to meet here,” he tells me, coming back to me. “But I thought it was going to be just me and him. I was prepared to give him the beating of his life for what you did to my father.”

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