Page 182 of A University of Betrayal

Miles DeLoughrey had torn open a very old wound inside me that I had been trying hard to close for five years.

“How do you know…”

Miles stepped closer.

“We DeLoughreys are known for our excellent research skills.”

He laughed softly, probably not really realizing what a mess he’d made of me.

All these years, I had blocked out the fact that my father had gotten the birth certificates changed. The fact that I could never have the same responsibilities as my brother – responsibilities which seemed like privileges to me to this day – had become normal to me. I had forced myself not to strive for it, even calling Nash my big brother in front of others. And now a Ruisangor – ofallpeople – was standing in front of me and ripping open that damn scar.

“You’ll never be able to lie to me, Emely,” Miles whispered in a low, barely audible voice. “Your eyes can’t lie.”

He turned away from me and walked down the stone path that led to the law lecture halls as if that unpleasant conversation had never happened.

I stopped, caught up in my thoughts, fighting with all my strength against the tears that kept fighting their way up.

Eventually, I took the bouquet off my chest and ripped threads from the white blouse of my uniform, which broke the camel’s back.

I screamed angrily and panted to calm myself down. I wanted to scream at him.

“Ems.”

Don’t Speak

Chaël, kaii

I wheeled around. There stood Julian.

Oh God,he would notice something was wrong. Julian knew me.

He came toward me, his brown hair typically messy. The black uniform pants looked good on him, even if he wasn’t wearing one of the sweater vests with it, just a dark green Vanderwood hoodie.

A strange dress code had developed over the last few days. While the Quatura all wore the blue uniform, the pack demonstratively wore the green sweater vests and the Ruisangors wore either their suits or the black pieces. I had unconsciously joined in with all this.

“Why didn’t you tell me about the Rolanows?”

Julian looked worried, almost tense, like Nash had been since the weekend.

“Hey, what is it?”

He put a hand to my cheek and I winced. He took his warm fingers off me immediately.

“I’m sorry,” he said, running a hand through his hair.

“It’s okay,” I replied, confused.

What was wrong with me? This was Julian... who had been acting weird around me since last week and was giving me strange hopes.

My cheeks heated up at the thought. If there was a competition for this sort of thing, I’m sure I would have won first place today.

“I’m all right. Don’t worry about it.”

Sighing, I lowered the flowers and looked down at the blouse. I definitely needed a new one. Those roses had gotten me into so many awkward situations, it was almost ridiculous. The Esadowa spirits were probably trying to punish me.

“But I do.”

I looked up at Julian, touched.

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