‘The security is weirding me out big time,’ she said, keeping her voice cool. ‘There’s a guard in my corridor. Creep factor high.’
‘It’s much worse than it was when I left to go home,’ Sylvain conceded. ‘It had begun then – there were more guards. More obsession with security. But it wasn’t as intense. Now, everyone is so paranoid. They see Nathaniel around every corner.’
‘Totally.’ Allie agreed. ‘And yet Isabelle says there hasn’t been an attack since I left. So why are they being so intense? I mean, yeah, he is evil and he is out to get us. But there’s no need to freak out about it.’ She made a flippant gesture. ‘We’ve all been here. Done this.’
Sylvain considered this. ‘It’s because of what they are hearing from Lucinda in London. I understand why they are afraid. But they are giving up too much freedom in exchange for safety.’
He gave a resigned sigh. ‘Besides, if one of our teachers is working for Nathaniel, what good would a thousand guards do?’
A cool breeze lifted Allie’s hair and she shivered, stretching the ends of her sleeves down over her hands.
‘It’s so hard to believe.’ She looked up at him; the shadows hid his expression. ‘I wish we knew which one. I hate being suspicious of all of them.’
‘Raj’s team is working on it,’ Sylvain said. ‘They will find him. And soon, I think. Raj says they’re close.’
‘Isabelle said the same thing.’ Allie’s voice was impatient. ‘But how do we keep just going into their classes when one of them wants us dead?’
‘We look out for each other,’ he said. He reached for her hand, pulling her closer. ‘You know, I watched you train tonight. You were vicious. Focused. You can take care of yourself. You know that, right?’
His words made her face warm.
‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘I guess I’m doing OK.’
‘More than that,’ he said. ‘You’re one of the best we’ve got. They should send you after this spy. Whoever it is.’
Allie tried to imagine fighting – really fighting – Zelazny or Jerry. Or worse, Eloise. But she couldn’t. They’d always been her authority figures. Essentially one step away from family.
Suddenly she didn’t want to talk about this any more. It was too depressing. The betrayal and the lies. The awful cost of it all.
She leaned against Sylvain’s body and he wrapped his arm around her, enveloping her in his warmth.
‘We’ll find him, Allie,’ he said. ‘Whoever it is. We will find him.’
His lips were very close to hers now. She held her breath in anticipation of the kiss. Instead, he turned her around until her back rested against his torso.
‘For now, though,’ he whispered the words in her ear and his breath tickled her deliciously, ‘we have this.’
He pointed up. Allie followed the line of his hand.
The universe gleamed above them.
‘Oh …’ she breathed. ‘It’s so beautiful.’
With no moon to outshine them, the stars filled the sky with an unbelievable brightness.
It wasn’t dark at all.
She leaned back to see better; he tightened his arms around her waist, securing her. He was so close she could feel his muscles move. When he breathed, his breath stirred her hair.
‘They say it takes so long for light to travel that the glow we see when we look at the stars happened millions of years ago,’ he whispered. ‘Looking at the sky is like looking back in time. Many of these stars are dead now. Burned out.’
The thought sent a melancholy shiver through her.
‘That’s sad,’ she said. ‘It makes me feel so … temporary.’
‘Everything is temporary,’ he said into her hair. ‘Even the stars don’t last.’
His fingers traced light patterns on her forearm. The delicate, swishing movements were maddening. He was touching only her arm but she could feel that touch in her stomach.
‘I don’t want to be temporary …’ she whispered.
Then his arms were around her pulling her close and they were kissing with all the stars spinning above them.
His lips were firm against hers at first, demanding. But when she tangled her arms around his neck he grew gentler. Teasing her lips with his until she parted her lips to him with a gasping breath.
His hands ran down her spine, flattening against the small of her back, pressing her harder against him. As she pulled his head down to hers to deepen the kiss, his fingers found the hem of her top and slid underneath it.
Now his hands were warm against her skin. Curious. Stroking up her spine and down again until she found it hard to breathe.
His lips traced a line of heat across her cheek and down along her jawline. Allie leaned back in his arms, letting him support her weight entirely as he planted delicate, butterfly kisses on her throat.
The necklace he’d given her – the lock and key – hung around her neck. He picked it up with a light touch.
‘I’m glad you’re wearing it,’ he said.
Night School: Resistance (Night School 4)
C.J. Daugherty's books
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