Page 137 of By the Orchid and the Owl
“Very well,” Dyonisia said, finally moving her icy attention to me, still in Kitterfol’s grip. “You may go, Ms. Balkersaff.”
Quinn shot up, turned, and stumbled a step when she saw me. Her cheeks were streaked with days-old makeup, and I’d never seen such bags under her eyes. But she didn’t say anything, didn’t even nod, as she scurried past us and shot down the staircase.
Dyonisia crossed her legs, and I kept my eyes on the sharpness of a single bare ankle when she gestured with a single, long-nailed finger.
Kitterfol pushed me forward. I lurched toward her until I was within her grasp.
The ice in her eyes slid from bruise to bruise, then settled back onto my face.
“I was roughhousing,” I blurted. “With a tiger. It’s a Wild Whispering thing. But I was also drunk.”I think. “And that was a… bad combination. I’m sorry.”
Oh, Quinn and I were in deep shit if we’d managed to snag the Good Council’s attention this badly. Cursing myself, I forced my gaze to lift. To clash with the fathomless void that seemed to brew within the woman’s pupils.
She’d given me the creeps then, and she gave me the creeps now.
Her lips were the color of mattified blood as they parted to finally speak.
“I am going to tell you everything, child, and you are going to listen.”
I knew I didn’t have a choice, so I stood there and endured the grating sound of her voice as she filled in the foggy gaps in my memory.
The five pirates who’d breached the shield—they had leftfromthe Institute. They’d been spies all along, and my house’s very own princess, Kimber Leake, had discovered and reported them.
But it seemed they hadn’t left a trace of themselves behind, nothing for the Good Council to snatch or uncover. Including their relations with everyone on campus. The people they’d talked to or hung out with.
“But according to Lexington,” Dyonisia said, her pupils flickering toward the Mind Manipulator behind me, “you were… familiar with one of them. Hence why you have the bruises.”
My world seemed to quiver to a halt.
“What do you mean?” I raised an arm to inspect one of the purple patches on my skin.
Kitterfol Lexington stepped forward, a smile toying on his face.
“When I came to investigate Frank Fenway’s death, I took a peek into everyone’s mind—just part of the investigative process, of course—and I saw you in bed with him. Oh, don’t worry.” He waved a hand at the horror that stole over my face, becauseno, impossible, I’d been cuddled up with Emelle.“I know you weren’t with him on an… intellectual level, or else we’d have to charge you with treason right here and now.” A smooth, slimy laugh. “You were just one of his oblivious pets that he liked to use and abuse.”
That smile danced on his lips. I shoved my fists against my stomach to keep from puking. I wasn’t quite sure what he meant by “pet,” but it definitely didn’t sound good. It didn’t soundright.
Even Mr. Gleekle and the other Good Council elites were glancing at each other behind Dyonisia. Ms. Pincette’s face had turned ashen, and for the first time since arriving at the Testing Center, I realized she was holding something against her chest like a lifeline: a spider in a jar.
“I wouldn’t have let anyone use or abuse me, sir,” I said, tight-lipped.
“Your old memories say otherwise,” Kitterfol replied, smugness dripping from every word. “Would you like me to show you? It will be a rather flimsy copy, given that it transferred from your head to mine and back to yours, but I can show you what I saw.”
My head was nodding before I could think better of it.
Suddenly, the memory poured into me: grainy and gray, but textured andreal.
I saw myself, chained to a bed that wasn’t mine. Spread open and utterly exposed before the wickedly handsome young man who’d done it to me, who was—
“Stop!” I cried. “Stop! I don’t want to see it anymore.”
The image retracted like a worm.
I tried not to stare at Kitterfol.
“What did you say his name was? The one who…”
I touched a bruise. I had recognized the man in the memory, but didn’t know his name. Dark brown locks of hair. Tan skin. A constant smirk. He’d been one of the class royals I’d seen upon my arrival at the Esholian Institute, but I hadn’t even noticed him inpassingsince then.
