Page 60 of Twisted Elites

Because Cormac was too busy looking for incriminating evidence against the kings. Biting my lip, I glanced away. Right now, we were both on opposite sides. I wanted the diary to prove Prakash’s innocence, while Cormac wanted to prove his guilt.

We scrolled back down to another entry:

He’s fallen for it. We’re meeting in his room tonight for one last time. It’s going to be even more delicious because of what I’ve planned. By the time I’ve finished with him, he will regret ever having toyed with my heart. He will never forget the name Gibbons. And neither will el Moreno or el Rubio. Both of them are as bad as him, and both of them will regret their association with el Sol.

Triumph surged through my chest. It expressed a similar sentiment to the passage Ashley had translated and proved Prakash’s innocence.

Cormac placed the computer on my lap and stood. He turned with his back to me and rubbed a hand over his mouth.

I glanced up. “Are you alright?”

He shook his head. “This makes for hard reading. Last year, when she came crying to me about what they’d done to her, I believed every word.”

A lump formed in my throat. I wouldn’t ever want to read through Ashley’s private thoughts, and I couldn’t imagine how painful it was for Cormac to dredge up Corrine’s. “That’s what big brothers do, isn’t it?”

Cormac nodded and sat at my side while I scrolled down to an entry describing Prakash’s ‘sweet and masterful lovemaking.’ Clenching my teeth, I read through an accurate description of what he was like in bed. Cormac’s nostrils flared, and he clenched his fists as he read. Normally, I would have skipped over such a personal account, but I really needed Cormac to understand that Prakash had not hurt Corrine beyond starting a relationship under false pretenses.

“There you are,” a whiney voice snapped.

Geraldine strode through the scholars’ common room with her nose in the air. Everyone, including the groups of people at the chess tables, stopped what they were doing to gape at her.

Cormac stood. “Geraldine.”

She ignored him and held out her smartphone. “I’m here for Pigsty. Someone wants to speak to you.”

I snapped the laptop shut and glowered up at her. “Who do you think you’re talking to?”

Her mouth gaped open. “Are you dumb?”

“No,” I snapped, “But I’m starting to believe you are.”

Her doe eyes widened, and she turned to her left to look at the sycophants who usually accompanied her, only to find a common room full of gaping scholars. When no one rose to her defense, she turned to Cormac. “Are you going to let her speak to me like this?”

“We’ve talked about it before,” he said in a tone so weary, I couldn’t help but wonder how many times they had argued about this. “Willow’s my friend and a person worthy of your respect.”

“Whatever!” She turned to me. “Are you going to speak to him or not?”

“Not.” I stood and placed my hands on my hips. “And I can’t believe a friend of Bianca’s would side with her greatest enemy.”

Her cheeks darkened. “That’s slander!”

In a low voice, I said, “If you want to help Bianca, stop running errands for Mr. Byrd. The next time he calls saying he has something of mine, tell him he can stick it up his ass!”

“You’re disgusting.”

“Says the perv who coerces other girls to perform oral sex on her,” I said in a voice loud enough to carry.

Her cheeks turned bright red. “Lying slut!”

I shook my head. “Keep insulting me, and I’ll spill all your dirty little secrets.”

Her gaze darted to Cormac, who stared between us, seeming not to know if we were trash-talking or hurling truths out of spite. I pulled back my shoulders and dared her to continue. She stuffed her phone into her pocket and stormed out of the common room. Like a love-struck fool, Cormac ran after her.

Hopefully, he would uncover Geraldine’s dirty secrets and realize that she was bullshitting him about the upcoming marriage in Gretna Green.

* * *

In English class, in the dining room, and in the hallway, Miss Claymore treated us like we were invisible, but I took her lack of overt attention to mean that she would become more stealthy in her attacks. Leopold, Sebastian, and I continued sleeping in Sebastian’s room with our camera phones positioned in case Miss Claymore developed another of her late-night yearnings.