Page 87 of Knot What She Seems
And honestly? I’m afraid if I don’t do it now, I’ll never end up doing it. Morning will bring with it a thousand different reasons why telling Harper is a bad, bad idea.
“Listen,” I start slowly, staring at the knobs on my dresser instead of at her as my neck flares red with warm embarrassment. “I have to tell you something that you cannot, under any circumstances, share with anyone—not for as long as you live. Never. It’s a royal secret. Are you willing to commit to something like that?”
For a second, it feels as if all the air is sucked out of the room as Harper inhales in shocked surprise. But then she sits up on the bed, crisscrossing her legs and reaching for my arm. Her warm palm lands gently on it, and I turn to see her gazing solemnly at me as she says, “I swear fealty on my life, Princess Brylee.”
Some of the shards inside my throat seem to soften as I swallow because I think I believe her. She seems sincere.
I close my eyes and press my lips together and take one final breath to brace myself for what I’m about to say.
“My brother is…dealing with top secret matters right now. But no one can know about those. So…I’ve been posing as him at Eros Academy.”
Harper reacts slowly, withdrawing her hand, her brows rising. There’s a look on her face that’s half slack-jawed shock and half disbelief that kind of resembles the face people get when they walk through the cloud of someone else’s noxious fart.
I can see her teetering on the brink of skepticism, so I toss the pillow aside and rise, going over to the dresser and grabbing my backpack by the strap, yanking it out. I unzip the top and heave the bodysuit into my arms so she can see it.
She springs to her feet and immediately comes over, running her hand down the arm of the suit the same way she would a ball gown, her eyes wide as an owl’s.
“Holyyyyyy…” She looks up at me, but this time, there’s zero doubt in her expression. “But…oh man, there are about eighty billion questions zooming through my head right now. Scent blockers?”
I nod.
“But…don’t they beat each other up over there?”
I nod again.
Harper gives a little shriek and jumps backward as if she just got an electric shock. “No!”
I put the suit back into the bag, giving her time to process. By the time I’m done, I turn to find her back on the bed.
She puts her fists on her hips and tilts her head before she exclaims, “Lucy, you’ve got some ’splaining to do!”
“What are you? Ninety?” I groan.
She chuckles. “Get over here, bitch. You’ve been holding out, and I wants the tea.”
So, as the moon glides across the sky and the sun starts to rise, I spill it.
30
BRYLEE
The only goodthing that comes out of the Noth attack is the canceled classes for both academies over the next couple of days. Not only that, but Ridge emailed me late last night to announce our morning sessions are on hold until classes resume.
As far as I’m concerned, I’m free.
For the first time in who knows how long, I don’t set an alarm and instead allow early morning sunlight to wake me.
I stretch my arms above my head, feeling lethargic in a way I haven’t been in years, and kick back my blankets. I have a list of things a mile long to complete during this short break. Constantly switching back and forth between “Teddie” and Brylee has left me behind on everyday chores. I’m just grateful I have Teddie completing my Eros homework and Caran helping me with my Darling schoolwork. Without them, I’d be toast.
Toast sounds good,I think as my stomach grumbles.
I mentally configure a plan for the day.
After breakfast, I need to do laundry. A ton of laundry. I’m practically out of clean clothes. Then, I need to stop by Teddie’s apartment and pick up my assignments for next week. Maybe the three of us can watch a movie or play a game, the way we used to before everything got so damn complicated. Hopefully, Teddie isn’t having a bad day.
A pang reverberates in my chest at the thought, remembering one of the times I went to visit a few months prior.
Teddie couldn’t even leave the bed. He tried to play it off and make jokes about it, but I could see how taxing even simple conversation was for him then. His cheeks were flushed with color, and sweat dotted his forehead and neck. In the middle of the conversation, he fell unconscious, and all I could think was,This is it. My brother is dead.
