Page 46 of Swallow Your Sorries

“Gant’s the king of Beaulieu,” Stassi says. “He’s like royalty. Untouchable.”

“Untouchable?” I ask, pulling on another knot, hoping the pain would be distracting enough to stop the sensation of my intestines from free-falling. “Does that apply to the staff too?”

“Did Mrs. Cardot care that you were soaked in piss?” Aria asks bluntly and I don’t answer.

I’d already known the answer before I asked.

“One thing you need to learn and fast is the hierarchy at Beaulieu,” Stassi says. “It’ll save you a world of pain.”

I think it’s a little too late for that.

“And heads up, the staff are at the bottom,” Aria adds.

Stassi strolls to the massive vanity mirror. With her finger she draws a circle through the fog, then four more beneath it.

“This is Gant,” she says, pointing to the top circle. “These circles beneath him are the rest of the school’s royalty. This is Jung Bae. Everyone calls him Bae because, in South Korea, the surname goes first, so he’d always introduce himself as Bae Jung. Anyway, Bae just stuck.”

“The boy with hair Rapunzel would envy?” I ask.

Aria nods. “He’s a chaebol back home.

“What’s that?” I ask and immediately regret it. It can’t be anything good and I’m desperately trying to find a light in this tunnel. Not more horrible news.

“It’s far more detailed than this, but basically he comes from a family so rich, prominent, influential and powerful, hereallyis untouchable,” Stassi says.

“Like a blueblood?” I ask. “Isn’t that most students here?”

Aria shakes her head. “Put it like this. The richest kids here still have a net worth smaller than Bae’s dogs.”

I suddenly imagine the impossibly handsome Korean male Rapunzel surrounded by dozens of mastiffs whose collars cost more than my life. Or did he fancy Dobermans?

What the fuck does it matter?

“Got it,” I say weakly, though the last thing I’m in the mood for is a play-by-play of my new tormentors and how they’re basically above the law with their infinite wealth.

“Next.” Stassi moves to the next circle. “Is Étienne—”

“Dazzling blue-green eyes. Dark, wavy hair?” I blurt, before I can stop myself. The boy from the front steps looked like the embodiment of anÉtienneif ever I saw one. Besides Bae, he’d been the only one of Gant’s goons to not touch me.

Aria narrows her own blue-green eyes at me. Blue-green eyes with a starburst of bright yellow around the pupil. How hadn’t I noticed them before?

“What?” I ask.Did I say something wrong?

“Éti’s Ari’s brother,” Stassi clears her throat.

Really?They shared a resemblance, but Aria is mixed race and Étienne didn’t appear to be. Maybe Étienne is too, but he leans more towards the White side. Or maybe they’re half-siblings who share a White parent? Either way, it’s none of my business.

Heat creeps up my cheeks in embarrassment for speculating.

“Look, I didn’t mean anything by it. I don’t have a brother, but I can only imagine how annoying it must be to have your peers constantly hitting on them.”

“He’s mystepbrother,” Aria snaps.

“Oh,” I say puzzled, searching Stassi for a clue, but she only turns back to the mirror and ducks her head, hiding her expression. “Oh…”

“Aria and Étienne are Èze’s ice skating darlings.”

“But not champions. Two years in a row we’ve come second place.”

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