Page 98 of Reflections of Peonies
“I was going to tell you this morning.” Finn shot me a wary look. “I’ll teach you. You should know how to meditate. In all the years we’ve known each other, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you just bestill.”
I didn’t want him to teach me anything. I’d catch pneumonia if he made me sit under any waterfalls. “Why can’t Damen teach me?”
“Do you honestly think Damen can be near you and not be distracting?” Finn scoffed. “Would yoube able to focus while he tells you dumb shit?”
A mental image of Damen holding a ruler flashed through my thoughts. Yes, he would be very stern. When he snapped into his professional mode, he was quite intimidating.
It would probably be for the best that Damen didn’t teach me a thing.
“Still, how do you plan to hide this?” I asked, pointing between the two of us. “They’ll find out, and Julian would be really upset.”
“That’s why we have to be discreet,” Finn answered. “He can’t kill me now unless you tell him to. But if Julian finds out what we’re doing, he’llmake sureDamen is the one to teach you.”
“Fine,” I grumbled. “How does someone meditate?”
I got boredwithin five minutes, and Finn had the nerve to complain that I was a terrible student. He had no idea what he was doing. I could definitely be calm and collected when necessary—but meditating? That was impossible.
“Clear your mind,” he’d said. “Focus on breathing.”
I couldn’t. The moment I tried to still my thoughts, memories flooded back, making it harder to breathe. And then, I couldn’t help but notice the strange patterns in the moss spread out over the stone.
So, really, I was observant. And that was a commendable trait.
Finn didn’t understand. So it was a relief when he told me the lesson was over and to sneak back to bed.
Sunday passed with the same uneventful rhythm as Saturday. The day started with a lesson from Brayden, neither of us mentioning Kieran. Lunch was a quiet affair with Julian and Miles. Titus was absent, and Damen still wasn’t ready to show me my new room.
Then, in the middle of the night, Finn sent Kiania to wake me. He wanted to meet once more.
She didn’t talk to me this time; her appearance was enough to let me know he was waiting. And the event led to a repeat of the night before.
It was almost depressing to consider that I could not, notthinkabout anything.
Then there was school.
Monday turned out to be far less eventful than I’d anticipated. Bryce ignored me, people stared, and Xavier kept his distance, giving me odd looks from afar. Damen had finished my bedroom by Monday night. The space was a copy of what I’d communicated to him, complete with an antique white canopy bed made with pink quilted covers, a fluffy bean bag chair near a mini-library, flower-shaped lamps, and a built-in window seat. Damen—and Bryce—had even made sure to reserve a spot on the bed for the rabbit I’d asked Bryce to fetch. My heart fluttered at their thoughtfulness.
I was so exhausted that all I could do was fall face-first into the mattress and sleep straight through until Tuesday morning. We were all busy, scrambling to catch up and settle into routine.
The rest of the week was a blur of trying to catch up on missed work, dodging the stares of my classmates, and seriously reconsidering my life as I grew to loathe French class more with each passing day.
For now, everyone seemed to have backed off from trying to pry answers out of me.
I had to catch up on my schoolwork. I was so far behind.
And every night, Finn sent for me. It became our routine.
I’d sneak out the window. We’d sit while he lectured about patience, and I tried not to call him out on his hypocrisy. Then I’d find something far more interesting than him to look at. Then he’d send me away only to do it again the next day.
He was so annoying.
By Friday, I was barely holding it together. The only positive aspect of this week was that I’d avoided seeing Dr. Nam, and no one had called me out about it.
Yet.
Bryce checked to see that I wore the ring before class began. Then, again, he ignored me for the rest of the class. But I was used to that now.
However, in French class, the routine had been broken. Xavier had been absent.
