I nudged her shoulder with mine. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. But if it helps, I don’t watch much television, so it might not sound trite to me.”
She snorted a laugh. “Yeah, I guess that’s true. Just . . . at one point, Felix had gone to the loo and it was only me and Chad. We were at this bar, and we were playing music on the jukebox, and he was being so aggressively flirtatious, and I was trying to dodge his flirting—and it’s just so cliché, you know? I can practically see a television episode playing out the same way. And okay, fine, I had a couple of drinks too. So maybe I—”
I cut her off before she could go down that path. “Stop. Having a couple of drinks doesn’t give some asshole the right to put his hands all over you. Do you understand me?”
She sniffled and then nodded. “No, I know. I just . . . I kept going at it over and over in my head, you know? Like, where had I gone wrong?” She shook her head. “Fucking Phineas. I got into another fight with him, as usual, all because Felix and I had danced at the stupid New Year’s party at the Yates house. Like, Phin doesn’t talk to me, ever. But the moment some other guy is interested, he gets all macho, saying, ‘You shouldn’t be doing this,’ and ‘Why are you acting like this?’ Like he can tell me what to do after the way he’s treated me.”
I sighed, wishing I could do something. But I knew even now, even before I’d left for my fellowship, that Phineas and Aurora had had a thing. They were in their own little War of the Roses, and trying to talk to them rationally about what was going on with them only put you in the crossfire.
“Okay, so Phineas is a dick, but you know that already. What else is new?”
She murmured softly. “Right? He’s always an arsehole.”
“Right. Phineas was an asshole. And then what happened?”
“You know, I got on my high horse about it. Like I was fucking royalty—which I am, by the way. I should be able to do whatever I want, whoever I want, whenever I want.”
“Royalty or not, that’s the rule. And fuck that obnoxious wankstain.”
She smirked at me then. “Tanith, I didn’t even think you knew any dirty words.”
I smirked back. I had learned a whole bunch of new dirty words from Owen. “Well, I’m a dark horse, aren’t I?”
She gave me the first real smile I’d seen from her in ages. “Yes, you are. So anyway, I was heading out, just to get away from him, and Felix suggested that we go somewhere else fun together, so I said yes. I shouldn’t have, but I did.”
“Okay, so, you left with Felix, but what happened? Was everything okay then?”
“Well, I thought it was just going to be me and Felix, and I trusted him because we’ve all known him forever. He was always around, you know? To me, Felix was safe. Then we met Chad at some dive bar in Soho.”
“How well do you know Chad?”
“I don’t really know much about him. Met him once or twice. He was just some bloke Felix brought around from time to time. But he knew Felix, so he was supposed to be safe.”
“Were you uncomfortable in any way? Did he say anything at first?”
Aurora shook her head. “Only once Felix was out of the room. Chad saw his chance, I guess. I got away from him and managed to leave the bar. I can’t believe it all started because I’d just wanted to forget Phineas for a night, you know?”
“You don’t have to explain yourself to me. Not one bit. I’m not judging you. Hell, I’ve never even been in love, so how can I even judge anyone?”
Her sharp gaze flickered to mine and pinned me perfectly still. Her eerie golden eyes refused to release me. “Right. Never been in love before, but maybe you know what that’s like now.”
I blinked wildly. “What?”
“You really think you can hide your relationship with Owen?”
I flushed deeply, feeling the blood rush to the surface. “No, that’s not really a secret. I just like a low-profile life.” God my face was so hot.
Aurora grinned then. “Look at you all shy and happy. That’s his scarf, isn’t it?”
I gently fingered the scarf on my shoulders and nodded. “Yeah, it’s his.”
Aurora nodded. “That’s good, Tanith. It’s really, really good. And you should be happy.”
“It feels weird being happy, you know? I want to be. It’s just . . . I don’t know if I can trust Owen.” Flashes of Bay House came back to me. Memories of his sweet kisses and dirty words. I amended my earlier statement. “Owen is great, actually. Different than I thought, I guess. I just, you know, we’re in high school, and I think I might be getting too attached.”
Aurora nodded. “Yeah, too attached is the problem. Because, you know, when you’re too attached, then it hurts when people leave.”
I winced at the bitter pain in her voice. And then she winced too. “I’m sorry. Not that Owen would. Owen is the steadiest of all the Hellfire boys, and he’s nothing like Phin. He is cool, calm, and collected most of the time. And you thaw him out a little. Normally, he seems so cold. Aloof. But with you, he’s finally got some fire under him, which is nice to see.”
“I see what you’re doing. Nice deflection.”
She reached out and took my hand. “Look, I’m happy for you. And you shouldn’t be worried about me.”
“Well, you’re my friend. So, of course, I worry.”
She gave me a small nod. “In case I haven’t said, you know, thanks for coming to get me or whatnot, thank you.”
“Always. And
