The Half-Class by Kayvion Lewis

Chapter Thirty-Six

It took forever to convince Cass to leave. He wanted to stay with me while I recovered from the ailment I feigned as an excuse to leave the castle. But once I told him I wanted to take a bath to soothe myself first, he finally yielded and left.

I tried to wrap my swollen fingers myself but to no success. I had to wake Auntie Jen to help me. She asked what happened, and I told her I accidentally slammed it in the door frame.

I spent the rest of the day pacing around our bedroom and peering out into the street. With my hand too bandaged to ride, I was once again confined to the barn.

I perched aside our window for a long while, watching the people outside pass by. I saw Auntie Jen returning from some errand. Lone travelers drifting into the woods. Kat and Luke riding out of it.

I jolted up. Kat and Luke? Was that how she’d been spending all her time avoiding me—with him?

Luke reigned in his horse. Kat trotted in just behind him, barely catching Luke before he swung down.

I pressed my hand against the glass, my heartbeat picking up.

He’s coming to the apartment.

I knew he wouldn’t stay away forever. It was only a matter of time before he came back. He didn’t hate me after all. There was at least one person who didn’t blame me for what happened with the twins.

I jumped up, ready to rush downstairs and meet him at the door.

But then…Kat stopped him. Kat grabbed his upper arm. She shook her head. What was she saying to him? I couldn’t see Luke’s face well enough, but his head swiveled back to the barn, lingering for only a moment before turning back to Kat. She tugged him away, and with little resistance, he complied. Side by side, the pair drifted further toward the city. Away from the barn and away from me.

Kat was keeping him away from me.

I wanted to scream. She must really have wanted me to suffer. I had so few people who cared about me left. It was a pain to lose Kat, but that wasn’t good enough. She had to leave me with no one.

I yanked the curtain closed. Fine then. If I had to be alone, then let me be alone. I’d lost so much of my family already, one more person was nothing. She may hate me now, but she couldn’t keep Luke away forever. My ruby red ring still laid untouched on our bedside table. It was only a matter of time before he found his way back to me, and then we’d see who his loyalty really lied with.

I clenched my fist.

Katalin.

Gilow and Jace strode into the manor kitchen. I rubbed my aching hand. Riding all the way out here had been more painful than I thought, but I had to make the journey.

“You called this meeting,” Gilow said before he even took a seat. “What was so important?”

His bluntness disarmed me. I understood that he and Jace were probably distracted with organizing a counter for the horrors I’d given them a map for, but this was important too, and they needed to know about it.

“What’s important,” I said, “is that the prince wants me to leave with him. In nine days .”

Jace and Gilow shot glances back at each other. More than a few moments passed, and they said nothing. Panic gnawed at me.

“There’s a solution for this, right? King Dreux is not going to let me push this back. We don’t have much time. And Cassian didn’t tell me directly, but I think the king might be planning to start his assault on us sooner than expected.”

Gilow crossed his arms. Somewhere between the cogs turning in his mind, there had to be a fix to this. A solution to get me out of this mistresship and hinder the king’s assault.

“Well?” I asked. “How are we going to stop this?”

After another moment of agonizing silence, Jace spoke, “What if we didn’t stop it?”

My limbs went stiff. “Excuse me?”

“Not exodus of the half-class,” she said, “but your journey to Aurell. Evie love, you’ve brought us so far in so little time, just by being the prince’s companion. If you were his formal mistress, if you lived in Aurell, in the palace, even for a small amount of time, you’d be privy to so much more information.”

She couldn’t be serious. I felt like a toy once again. They’d wind me up and play with me all they wanted. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”

“Oh, it wouldn’t be forever, Evie, Love,” Jace reached into my lap and placed her hand over mine, bandage and all. “Just until we’ve managed to make some truly meaningful strides. Until we did away with all this for good. Then you could come back to Bexbury as if nothing had ever happened. It would be no time at all.”

No time at all! How long was that? A season? A year? A streak of pain shot through my fingers. I couldn’t spend a year hiding injuries and lying to Cass.

“Are you insane?” I ripped my hand away from her. I’d had just about enough. “I can’t leave with the prince. What would happen if I were discovered? What if our coup succeeds, but we only manage to secure some sort of thin treaty with Ryland and lift all the restrictions? What would happen then? The king’s not just going to let me walk away, all debts forgiven. And if they found out that we’d been toying with his son? A new war would start all over again!”

“Evelyn, Love,” Jace soothed. “Calm yourself. I know this proposition isn’t without its risks, but so is everything we do. There are definitely knots to be worked out later, but this opportunity is more than worth the risk.”

Knots? The possibility of me losing my life was a knot?

This wasn’t the Jace I knew. At least, not the one I thought I knew.

I shook my head. “I can’t do that. I don’t see my leaving with them ending in anything but disaster.”

Jace’s ever calm gaze hardened into something serious. “All due respect Evie, but what other option do we have? You said yourself that the departure can’t be pushed back, and you’ve already accepted the prince’s offer. Do you think he and the king would accept your change of heart with grace if you backed out now?”

I clenched my jaw. “Don’t try to scare me into this, Jace.”

“I’m not trying to scare you into anything,” she said. “I’m only being realistic. We all know the king doesn’t have patience for half-classes. For all you know, your defiance will just fan the ever-growing flames. He might take out his anger on all of us. To refuse now would be to put all of the half-class in danger.”

No, it wasn’t too late. I could change my mind now. Cass wouldn’t punish me for it, would he? His words yesterday repeated in my head. The words between the proclamations of love and the kisses.

I’m not leaving without you.

I thought it was only an exaggeration, but what if there was more truth to them than I thought?

Even if Cass did let me go, his father wouldn’t do the same. To refuse Cass’s proposal would be like spitting in his face. Refusal was not an option, but there had to be a third path.

“I know you’re right, Jace,” I said. “I can’t turn him down, but there must be some other way out of this.” I dropped my arm on the table and turned toward Gilow. “Right?”

Gilow, still caught in the turning cogs of his mind, was quiet.

My chest rose and fell at a rapid pace. What if he agreed with Jace? They usually were of one accord. What if he had no other plan?

Gilow narrowed his gaze on me. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about a ball around a week from now, would you?”

I furrowed my brow. “It’s one of the courtiers’ birthday. Apparently, I’m required to attend.”

“I’ve heard whispers about this all over Eastside. Not only will the courtiers be there, but almost every one of the king’s wealthy supporters in Bexbury as well.” Gilow’s dark eyes focused on a thought, an idea Jace and I were only just beginning to grasp. “Evelyn, Jace, this is our chance. This is our opportunity to take them all.”

Jace gripped the table. “You can’t mean—"

“Yes.” Gilow smiled softly, the first time I’d ever seen him do so. “We’re going to strike the ball. If we can take out enough of the courtiers—the king, the prince, and their supporters—then Ryland will crumble. Or, at the very least, it’ll be thrown into a distraught scramble. Maintaining the empire’s territories will be an afterthought, if that. They’ll be no one to enforce the class ordinances. We’ll be free before the end of the evening.”

I couldn’t move.

Kill them.

That was the solution. That was his answer to all our problems. Kill the court. Kill the king.

Kill Cass.

Gilow leaned over to me, his eyes wide and eager. “Evelyn, you don’t want to leave with the prince. You won’t have to. But you’ll need to maintain your act in the meantime. Nine days is more than enough time to assemble every single ally we have in Morra and a few from Ryland.”

Gilow rose from the table. The clock had already started ticking. Their minds were already made up.

“Let me know if anything else happens,” he said as Jace rose to leave with him. “In eight days, we topple the king. In eight days, there will be no more class system.”

I trembled as they left the kitchen. My breath clogged in my throat. Eight days, that’s all I had. Eight days until it all came to a head.

Eight days until Cass died.