Page 37 of Revenge

I thought about Nadia, who looked around twenty-five and carried large amounts of cash, and some of the shady characters whose pictures had been uploaded on the Mercia-Net. “Don’t dignitaries educate their children at the right age? The people I’ve seen look like grown adults.”

“Whoever they are, the headmaster is losing control of them.”

“Can they be deported?” I took a few steps closer and placed a hand on Edward’s back.

“He’s arranged student visas. The Home Office can do nothing about them.”

My heart ached for Edward. Mr. Chaloner had clearly taken advantage of the Duchy’s financial situation and its need to pay the duke’s medical expenses. The tight band of panic snaked its way back around my chest, and I wrapped my arms around Edward and forced breaths in and out of my lungs.

If I had known his situation was so dire, I wouldn’t have brought him out to the balcony where everything would be recorded. Guilt scoured through my insides. I’d set things in motion that could have terrible repercussions against Edward and his father. But I couldn’t stop now. Something strange was happening in International House, and the headmaster seemed to have unleashed some kind of dangerous machination.

Also, Rudolph had invested a hefty sum to get me back into Mercia Academy, and he also threatened me with military school if I failed to deliver. I blinked hard and blew out a shuddering breath. Maybe it was the alcohol in my system affecting my mood, but all I could feel now was an impending sense of doom.

“Maybe it’s time to get some outside help,” I murmured.

Edward drew back. “The headmaster is counting on everybody keeping quiet about International House. Anything that tarnishes the school also damages the prospects of the students.”

I leaned across the balcony and squeezed his hand. “And what about their safety? Some of them are only eleven years old. What if Mr. Chaloner decides to fill more empty buildings with even worse people?”

“That’s what scares me the most.” He gazed up into into the sky. A dark haze settled overhead, with heavy clouds obscuring the moon. Not a single star was visible, unlike at Mercia Academy, where on crisp nights, the entire heavens were laid bare. “I’m sorry for burdening you with my problems.”

“That’s what friends are for.”

“Are we?” He turned, meeting my gaze with eyes so a blue so deep they appeared black in the dim light of the balcony.

“What?”

“Friends.”

My mouth opened and closed, and the bones of my corset tightened around my torso. Why would he hand me information that could bury him and his precious academy if he didn’t trust me? “I don’t know what you mean.”

“I’ve been so cruel to you.” He let go of my hand and drew away to rest his back against the balcony’s corner railing. “Without knowing anything about you except you were an American whom I found attractive, I made you the campaign of underserved name-calling, and when that didn’t succeed, we resorted to cruel and dangerous pranks. How could you stand in front of me and offer me friendship? I wouldn’t be quite so forgiving.”

The truth in his words crushed my lungs and left me struggling for air. Everything he said was right, but my motives weren’t quite so pure as forgiveness. I had wanted to infiltrate the group, find their weaknesses, and bury them in exchange for what they did to me. Now… I wasn’t quite so sure.

Edward shook his head. “What we did to you afterward was reprehensible. It would have been the breaking of a lesser person.” The corners of his eyes creased with pain. “Emilia, I’m so sor—”

“Why did you do it?” I had to change the subject. Fast. If he gave me a heartfelt apology for the events surrounding the fake kidnapping, my heart would shatter with guilt. “Why bully anyone?”

He lowered his head into his hands and heaved out a long sigh. The tightness around my lungs loosened. If he was talking about himself, he wouldn’t ask me awkward questions I couldn’t answer. Finally, Edward said, “The academy is the only part of my life where I feel in control.”

“But it’s so regimented.”

“Work-wise, yes…” He glanced through the doors of the balcony. Although the four-poster was visible through the glass, the curtains obscured our view of Henry and Blake. “But the academy is a predictable environment and one where I’m the king and even the most learned of teachers fear me. As the future duke, anything I say holds sway with the board.”

“And the students?”

“They’re like sheep, really. Deep down, they all fear becoming the target of scrutiny and disapproval. It’s far easier for them to gain acceptance by aligning themselves with a more powerful influence than in being an individual.”

I swallowed down the bitter taste in the back of my throat. “So, you bullied everyone who didn’t fit in?”

“Only a few examples, like Rita Yelverton.”

“Why?”

“The conventional thinking is that she’s an affront to everything that makes us better than your average pleb. She’s poor, from the wrong background and doesn’t speak like us, yet she gained an academic scholarship.” He shook his head. “Academic. Any more Yelvertons, and people will stop believing they are a privileged elite that deserves to one day rule Britain.”

Disgust rippled through my belly, throwing off my previous panic and guilt. I pursed my lips and hoped the camera was recording this terrible confession. “That’s what you think?”