Page 241 of A University of Betrayal

“And even if he does, Alice, maybe not everything Gloria says is wrong. She’s a Council member for a reason.” I had also stopped and stared at her. “I meant what I just said. You should stick to the rules.”

“Amara, you’ll be in charge soon, and questioning the old order might be something new that could help us all move forward.”

She had looked at me and seemed deep in thought before she finally left.

Beloved Mum,

I was sitting by a fountain in one of the pretty courtyards today, reading. The sun was shining, but only slightly, through the partially open, ivy-covered stone roof. Everyone else had lectures... almost everyone.

“The book girl,” someone had said and sat down directly opposite me into the window of the Gothic stone wall.

Not being able to say anything, I had been looking into the shining gray eyes and at the lips painted with a smile. He was wearing a black suit jacket again, without the sweater underneath. And a white shirt.

“You’re supposed to stay away from me, you know that?” he asked me, tilting his head so that the sunlight shone directly on his pale skin and made his dark blond hair shimmer.

I still wonder how I could have believed for years that Ruisangors burned themselves in the sun.

“It’s not hard,” I had somehow managed to say, and he had smiled.

“And yet you’re still trying to find me.”

“I...”

“Don't even try to lie. You’ve been carrying my jacket around with you for days.”

Not only had he left me speechless again, I had also noticed for the first time how attractive his manner was to me.

“And you seem to be watching me.”

My words seemed to have taken us both by surprise, because he had opened his lips slightly to say something, but nothing came out. That had been the triumph that had made me smile. And my smile had been reflected in his face afterward.

“I heard you talking to the Senseque, in the library.”

My breath had hitched and from then on, I had understood what Alarik had meant.

“You seem to love taking risks, Blair girl.”

I knew he wasn’t just referring to the topics I had talked about with Alarik, but also this one idea I had first voiced that day in the library.

“Tell me I’m wrong and that there’s an easier way.”

The young man had eyed me and finally said, “You’re not wrong, but you’d have a lot of sides against you. Not everyone can handle that.”

He must have meant the Councils and the Esadowas, who influenced the Senseque pack in the same way that the Councils influenced the Circle.

“It’s worth the risk.”

“You like playing with fire, don’t you?”

He’d smiled, and I’d turned to grab his suit jacket from my backpack, hiding my knowing grin.

If only he knew how fitting his description had been for me...

“Here, the reason I’ve been looking for you all this time.”

I held out the black fabric to him, and he reached for it, our hands touching lightly.

“Are all Quatura this warm?” he asked, and at that moment the sun shone on one half of his face in such a way that I couldn’t help but make an exact memorization of his contours. The pale red, finely curved lips, like rose petals, and those eyes, like the moon that you can sometimes still see in the sky at midday...