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“You should.”

Neither of us moved.

The wind came up again, cold enough to make my eyes water, carrying the scent of him.

“And you’re not going to explain that,” I said.

“Not tonight.”

“Tomorrow?”

His mouth tipped into something like a smile but not quite.

“Tomorrow will bring what it will. If anyone asks, you came up here to tell me not to go into your room again.”

“I did.”

“It’s a good story.”

“It’s even partly true.”

His eyes stayed on mine.

“That’s usually the safest kind.”

The second bell rang below us.

He stepped back first.

I hated him a little for being able to.

Then I went down the stairs.

Inside, I closed the door and stood with my back against it.

I had gone up to tell Kieran not to enter my room again.

I had done that.

I had also let him kiss me on a roof Hale had warned me away from, with no one watching and no one writing it down.

My mouth still tasted like green apple.

9

Iwas back in room 114 before curfew, but I couldn’t sleep after the clock tower.

The apple stayed in the drawer.

The note stayed under my pillow.

My mouth kept remembering Kieran anyway.

I remembered his breath breaking against mine, his hand stopping before my waist, the way he had looked at me afterward, like wanting more had become a thing he could hold back but not hide.

By dawn, I had learned two things.

One: a kiss could be brief and still ruin a good night’s sleep.