Page 14 of Revere

Professor Gray turns and walks away, leaving me alone in the library stacks to digest that comment. In all this arguing, I didn’t think about the fact that I’m essentially going against his work. Work I’m sure he checked more than once.

Still, when he stops at the tables near Violet, his eyes meet mine a final time. And a single word plays like a music box tune repeating in my mind.

Orchestrate.

5

WAKE MY GHOSTS

JACOB

I should have learnedby now not to make promises I might not be able to keep.

The clock ticks in the silent library, and each second notches another passing moment in my chest.

Most of my students left campus hours ago. They read through the initial report, took their notes, highlighted what they thought was important, and decided they were done. I’m sure they assume I’ve sent them on a wild goose chase because they aren’t looking at the details.

Not likeher.

By the time the clock strikes midnight, Patience Lancaster is the only student left in the library. An hour ago, she glared at me when I suggested she go home because it was getting late, and that single comment is likely why she stayed.

So difficult.

Defiant.

I can see why her fellow students might call her an ice princess. The hard walls she’s erected are so thick they’re nearly impossible to chip away at. Except they’re not ice, they’regold, like the shade of her brown eyes. Bricks that form an impenetrable wall she refuses to let anyone past.

When I negotiated the delivery of the Lancaster daughter from Declan, I expected a girl a bit more like Gideon and Ursa. Her parents are manipulative and self-serving. Every decision—every action—is careful and calculated. Meant to advance themselves.

Which is why I assumed there was no innocence left in the Lancaster family. That is, until Patience fell into my lap on the plane.

Heart on her sleeve.

Hope in her eyes.

Yes, she’s careful and guarded, but one look in her eyes and it was clear there’s not a deceitful bone in her body.

Her perfect, beautiful body.

I shake that thought.

Patience Lancaster is the daughter of the enemy. If I’m not careful, she’s going to ruin everything I’ve spent months planning. She’s the leverage to dangle over her father. One whisper his precious daughter is in my grasp, and he’ll have no choice but to cooperate. This was all supposed to be so simple.

Except, I didn’t anticipateher.

Blonde hair, dreams in her eyes. Ambition her Sigma-blooded family hasn’t burned out of her soul quite yet.

Maybe that’s been their plan all along. Keep her like this so she’ll fetch a steeper price someday.

My hands clench.

The thought of her family using her shouldn’t bother me when that’s why I brought her to LA, but it does.

Steadying my breath, I remind myself why I’m here.

Whyshe’shere.

I remind myself of the woman her father took from me. Patience Lancaster falling into my lap and getting under my skinchanges nothing. It can’t resurrect the dead or fix this broken puzzle. It can’t put things back.