"What are you thinking about?"
Bran. He sat down beside me, glancing at the currently empty path.
"Reciting pi," I said.
"How many digits?"
"A couple hundred."
He made a vague sound of approval, then asked: "Want to go ride along the coast road?"
"Yes," I said, after a pause. "But not today." Knowing that he wasn’t going to be able to simply put aside the conversation with Meggan, I stood up. "Let’s play Tyranny until our mood’s better."
We went back through the fence, which Bran had left dangerously unbarred, and curled together on the couch, losing ourselves in a series of increasingly intense duo arena matches. We worked well as a team, and I found myself glad that our time together today had turned into something companionable. Friendship had become a very important thing to me. I wanted more afternoons just playing games with them.
"How greedy you’ve made me," I murmured.
"What?"
"Nothing." I put my phone down and turned to him.
Bran did not complicate matters. We kissed, fumbled clothes to the floor, moved together, then repeated with slight variations.
"How long will you be in the country after the dance?" he asked, when I finally decided it was getting late, and sat up.
"Three days."
"You’re still going to Peru with that actor?"
"I’m going to Peru with Millie. We’re letting Christophe tag along, which seemed harmless enough before his profile blew up after Sea of Silver was greenlit. We’ll keep him permanently in sunglasses and large hats, and hope for the best. Did you manage to arrange another internship?"
"Yes—we’ll be flying out a week after the dance. We’ll be back three weeks before the start of classes. When do you come back?"
I could see he was controlling his expression, and couldn’t resist reaching down to touch his face, gently rubbing a thumb across his cheek.
"Acceptances come out around mid-July. If I do end up going to a different country, I’ll be back for a couple of days to give up my rental. Can we take that coast road ride then?"
"We’ll do that whatever happens," he said, pulling me down for another kiss before letting me go so I could clean up.
We parted without further words, and I caught the bus back, lost in thought. It had never been clear to me whether Bran had been clinically depressed, or simply struggling with Meggan’s ultimatum, but I couldn’t help but be worried about how he would manage the end of this game. My problem now was whether I was doing the wrong thing arranging days out with him. We’d enjoy ourselves, sure, but given the attention constantly focused on Corascur’s Three Kings, openly running around with the three of them would be certain trouble, without even bringing into question how we’d all deal with each other outside the structure of this game. A clean end might be better for all of us.
I sighed, and played around with the Cheshire app on my phone, doing some calculations in my head before starting to enter overdue scores. I made Bran the narrow winner, purely because it settled the question of who was the best kisser. I hesitated over deleting the app, but decided to leave it for now.
This past year wasn’t something I would regret, but I could already tell it was going to take me a long time to get over it.
Seventy-Two
"You look like a flower fairy," said Lania’s younger sister, Nuala, deeply envious.
"You do," the makeup artist agreed, stepping back from her close work on Lania’s face. "All done."
Lania stood up and gazed down at herself.
"Like it?" I asked.
"I love it so much that I desperately want to keep it," Lania said, turning in a slow circle, a vision in fuchsia and damask rose. "Is there any way, Mika?"
"Money," I said, with a shrug. "I’ll ask Jojo."
"You have to keep yours. It’s a total goddess look."
I glanced at myself in the mirror. The dress hid my weaknesses and emphasised my strengths, transforming me into a graceful willow with a long length of sexily exposed back. I’d been saving my online tutoring money for my Peru trip, and really did not have the budget for ballgowns, but I had to admit I was tempted. I wanted to dress like this on days when I was bored, and dance barefoot with three beautiful boys.
"Take a photo," I said. "I’m going to be unsubtle at my parents."
Lania and I posed for photos. Her brother Sascha produced some excellent shots, which I sent to Jojo with effusion, and to my parents with regret. Then it was time to send off the two experts we’d hired to primp us, before setting off with Mrs Nichols to the school.
"Who do you want to dance with most?" Lania asked, fidgeting with the layers of her gauzy skirt.
"The Three Kings," I said, honestly.
Lania laughed. "Get in line."
"I know. I figure I might get to see them from the back of the crowd. But it would be a nice last memory of Corascur to have that romantic ballroom scene." I hesitated. "I’ve had a chance to chat to them occasionally, and they almost live up to their legend."
"Yeah." Lania sighed. "Super smart and talented at practically everything. Rin somehow gets more beautiful every year. It’s so annoying."
"Is he who you want to dance with most?"
Makeup hid much of Lania’s flush, but then she shrugged. "No, I want to dance with Carr. And I probably will. Carr’s very good like that."
The tone was resigned, a little sad. I turned over my impressions of Carr, then asked: "In your first year here, did you go to that Rose Court Afternoon Tea?"
"Oh yes." Lania did not hold back a caustic edge. "Sirocco drew me in very neatly. I thought I was living in one of the sweeter varieties of Otome novel for a while there."
"All girly chums and shared confidences?"
"I used to come home and talk about all the amazing friends I’d made. Sirocco’s actually a really interesting person, but she’s a bit stuck in her mother’s expectations." Lania glanced at her own mother, driving without comment. "She’s also really, genuinely, deeply besotted with Rin, and I’d feel sorry for her if she didn’t feel the need to nip potential rivals in the bud."
"Hasn’t Rin had girlfriends? Did she do anything to them?"
"Four girlfriends. None of them lasted longer than three months. That’s nothing to do with Sirocco, who never went near them, so far as I know. More that Rin’s so untouchable."
"Not according to the forums. Unless all that stuff about him matching his height is pure fanfiction."
"Untouchable emotionally," Lania said, giggling, but then sobered. "Among the Three Kings, Kyou’s actually by far the nicest. Rin is very courteous, but I don’t think he’s interested in people. With a few exceptions, people are something he tolerates. I think that’s why I eventually started liking Carr. Carr is outright kind."
I hummed deep in my throat, then said: "My impression of Carr is that he’s thoughtful, considerate, and a peacemaker. He doesn’t stir trouble, and he looks for amicable solutions. Definitely kinder than Rin. But would Rin ever participate in any way in a game of Rub Your Nose in the Pecking Order?"
"You mean the Afternoon Tea? Carr was too polite to turn down helping out."
"Sometimes you have to be a little rude, if you’re going to stand up for people."
Lania looked at me in surprise. "I thought you liked Carr."
"I do. But that disappointed me."
The fact that Carr had done precisely nothing about Lania being bullied on the school trip might also have been an underlying reason I turned him down. Of course, he might have acted without me knowing, or at least spoken to the culprits, but I’d seen no sign of it.