Page 72 of Teach Me to Fly

My fingers freeze above the screen and the breath leaves my body before I even realize I was holding it. His words cut straight through me—true in a way I don’t know how to face. I stare at the message a little too long before I finally respond.

Me:

Goodnight, Reign.

Reign of Terror:

Goodnight, Angel.

Chapter 25

Reign

“Let’s skip Imperium today,” I mutter, tearing a piece of toast apart with my fingers instead of eating it.

Across from me, Angelique lifts her mug to her lips, watching me over the rim. “What about rehearsals?”

I shrug, jaw tight. “We’ll rehearse at the estate studio. I’m not in the mood to growl at people all day.”

But that’s just the surface excuse, the digestible one, because the truth is I’m not in the mood to watch her slip out of my reach again. Ever since the night I played for her, we haven’t had more than a few damn minutes alone with each other. If we’re not locked in rehearsal from sunrise until our bodies are too sore to keep going, she’s out with Lando and their friends—dinners, drives, late-night laughter that doesn’t include me. And when she finally gets back, it’s like she evaporates straight to bed. She’s so close and I still feel starved.

She snorts and sets her mug down with a clink. “I’m beginning to think you growl for attention.”

I tilt my head. “That wasn’t a no.”

Her lips twitch as she eyes me for a beat, weighingwhatever’s simmering beneath the suggestion, and then she finally nods. “Alright. Let’s try it.”

The tension in my chest loosens just enough to let a grin pull at my mouth. I wolf down the last of my breakfast and follow her out, matching her pace as we cut through the garden path toward the studio. Morning mist still clings to the hedges and the world feels quiet; ours. She types out a text to Lando letting him know she won’t be at Imperium today, so I pull out my phone to text Terry.

Me:

Are you free for a drink today?

Terry:

Yeah mate, after rehearsal?

Me:

I won’t be in, and neither will Angelique, but I’ll come pick you up later

Terry:

Volkov is going to skin you alive.

See you later.

“Lando’s throwing another party tonight,” she says, still half-focused on her screen.

I sigh. “He throws one every time my father leaves town.”

She looks up at me, brows pinched. “Charlie’s gone?”

“Off to London. Finalizing details for the gala.”

“The gala?” she repeats, blinking.

Right. She wasn’t here last season.

---