Page 36 of The Last De Loughrey Dynasty

“You’re the Fox,” I said, and Gwyn nodded, her eyes fixed on the water.

“I was just so alone. We could have been together forever.”

“You tried to kill me,” I said, the words tasting bitter in my mouth.

The young girl’s face faltered, hurt by my statement. “No. I tried to save you.”

Tears burned my eyes.

Gwyneth wasn’t the girl I had met at church. She wasn’t the quiet, dreamy heart of the school. The entire time I had laughed, listened to her stories, ran through the woods with her… I had been alone, because Gwyneth had died before I was even born. Gwyn was a ghost, and her spirit had lived in these waters.

“You took advantage of my pain. You made me trust you just to drown me. In what universe is that the definition of saving me?”

How could I have been so daft to trust her?

To feel so much comfort in her embrace?

There had to have been signs of what she was planning… But once again, I had put my trust in someone I barely knew, because my mind had been desperate for anything that could make me feel wanted.

“No. You grasped that entirely wrong,” Gwyneth insisted. “I wasn’t trying to take advantage of you. I was trying to save you from your fate.”

“Gwyneth, stop it. You’ve done enough tonight. Trying to excuse any of this only makes you seem more pathetic.” Archer’s voice was filled with disdain, and it hurt Gwyneth, but I couldn’t bring myself to feel sorry for her. Archer was right. There was no excuse for what she had done to me tonight.

Gwyneth disappeared into the wind. It was strange to watch her dematerialise like that. I had only ever seen them appear somewhere, and the second I looked away, they were gone.

“Follow me,” Archer said, and reached for my hand. I pulled it back.

“Gwyn told me the same, and you saw firsthand what happened. I’d rather take care of myself now.” After tonight, my trust issues had only gotten worse. All I wanted to do was try to figure out what had happened. The certainty that the people I saw were ghosts. That my school, which had once made me feel better, was filled with ghosts. Two ghosts, one of whom I couldn’t identify as undead, had tried to kill me the same way they had died.

And someone else existed who had the ability to see them.

I had been close to death again tonight.

I was about to turn and leave when Archer’s fingers closed around my arm, pulling me back to face him. He swung me around so forcefully that our faces were only inches apart. His expression mirrored mine. We both weren’t enjoying this.

“I’ll remind you again that I saved you. In contrast to Gwyneth, who you daftly trusted. Without me, you’d be just another tale the teachers tell the children of Aquila Hall to keep them away from these waters.” His words stung, and for a moment, I wanted to shove him back into the freezing lake.

“Thank you, Kingstone—oh, wait. Your ego’s shoved so high up your arse that you’re too good for the phrase ‘thank you,’” I snapped back.

Archer grinned.

For the first time in the month I’d known him, I saw him smile—genuinely. But I wasn’t sure if he found my words pathetic or hilarious.

“What’s so funny?” I asked, annoyed.

“Nothing.”

“But you just grinned at me. People don’t grin for nothing.”

He leaned forward until his mouth was near my ear. I could feel his warm breath on my icy skin. “I just like it when youbite back. Stop tolerating everything all the time, Dorothee,” he whispered.

I shoved him away, and his grin only widened. He was insufferable.

Hell, I almost regretted feeling relieved. He could see the same spirits I saw.

Of all people,why him?

It bugged me terribly that I couldn’t figure him out. He switched so quickly, and it was like he was always hiding what he really felt. He couldn’t always keep up with the cold, emotionless façade.

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