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“Then we should take advantage of these coming weeks. I'll show you around, get you settled, and teach you what I can. And no more fighting. We don't have the time to waste. Deal?”

I don't want to make any more deals. I'm so tired of them. But I meet his kind stare, the warmth of it lighting up my heart. Thanks to it, I can breathe a little easier. “Deal.”

****

DOMINIC WAS SERIOUSwhen he said he'd keep the maids away from my hair. They never flashed a pair of scissors in my line of sight again. Instead, they leave me brushes with silky bristles, bottles of shampoos, conditioners, and countless oils. Everything is presented in tissue paper stuffed baskets. The wrapped gifts accumulate in the small room that's supposedly mine.

It isn't mine. I know where myrealbedroom is.

I spend my days reading books, exploring the estate, and waiting for news about my family. It's a painful process made somewhat tolerable thanks to Dominic.

“You really have to go?” I ask, lying beside him. We're both stretched out on the manicured backyard, posing the way you'd make snow angels if it weren't September, the lingering summer fighting off any hint of fall.

He stares at the blue sky. “Father wants it, so that's that. I don't get any say.”

“Well, it's stupid,” I grumble. He chuckles, which makes me smile. And it makes me loath that he's leaving even more. “Do you even want to be a soldier?”

“They teach lots of other things there. I'm hoping to learn programming. I could even join the air force, become a pilot.”

“I like that idea. You could fly me around the world in a plane!”

“Definitely. I'd love to do that with you.” He plucks a blade of grass, blowing it against his lips so it whistles. “Dad spent a lot of time picking the right school. He thinks the discipline they provide will be good for me. He was in the army, did you know? Grandfather was too. It's important to remember the past.”

I remember the past every single day. Thinking about my family makes me queasy. “Won't you be lonely there?”

“My cousin Bernard will be joining at the same time. We get along really well, he's kind of like the brother I never had.”

I miss the brother I DO have.I rush to change the direction of the conversation. “When will you come back?”

He flicks the grass away. It twirls on the breeze, vanishing. “I'll get some holiday breaks. The first one is this December, that's only three months away.”

I nod sagely, frowning. “Too bad. I bet I won't see you.”

“Why?”

“I'll be back home by then,” I respond, like it's as obvious as water being wet.

He turns away, saying nothing as he studies the cloudless sky. There are lines in his young face that remind me of how my father looked when I hid beside the logs with Kara weeks ago. It cools my mood. Makes me wonder what he knows that I don't.

“Maybe,” I say slowly, following his example and eyeing the sky, “We'll be able to meet outside of here someday.”

The grass crunches lightly under his head. “I'd like that.” I know he's watching me, I feel the warmth of his eyes. He's the first boy I've gotten to know. Our friendship came easy. It's what's forming beneath—this fluffy, inexperienced thing—that haunts me and makes my heart thrum. That leaves me awake in the late hours. His smile imprinted behind my eyelids. I don't want to name it yet. I don't think I can.

But I do know one thing: Dominic and I are destined to remain friends.

I'm sure of it.