Page 86 of The Amber Sunburst

“Forms, I thought—” She hiccups, “I thought something happened. I—” She pauses in confusion, looking them both up and down. “Why do you smell like seawater?”

Ophelia examines Eudoxia’s face, committing it to memory. Once she learns what happened, Ophelia might never see it again.

“Arete told me about that door you guys take to go to the beach downstairs, so we went, and it was fine, Xia, I promise. But then something happened on the way back, and⁠—”

“The what?” Eudoxia says, voice low but not calm.

“The beach that you guys go to,” Ophelia barrels on. “The one you take her between classes. But that’s not the problem. We were⁠—”

“Arete,” Eudoxia growls.

“What?” Arete asks, over-defensive.

But Ophelia hasn’t even gotten to the bad part yet. Unless⁠—

Oh. Oh, Forms.

“Arete, you didn’t,” Ophelia says, but when she sees Arete’s face, there’s no room for doubt. The worried crease of her little, round brows is a confession in itself, compounded by the guilty turn of her lips.

“Arete, did you lie to Ophelia?”

“I only did it because⁠—”

“No!” Eudoxia yells so loudly it makes Ophelia jump. “I asked you a question. Did you lie to Ophelia?”

Arete’s eyes widen in fear. “Yes.”

How could Ophelia have been so stupid? Why did she just blindly trust a ten-year-old child? A child who Ophelia knows is smarter than she lets on.

“And did you think, for a second, about how selfish that was?” Eudoxia asks, voice rising again.

Arete’s eyes don’t leave the floor.

“You can be mad at me all you want, Arete. You can throw tantrums and leave trash and yell and scream at me, but you cannot do things that you know will jeopardize your safety. And you cannot sacrifice other people to do them.”

“Eudoxia,” Ophelia interrupts. She needs to explain the worst of it.

Before she can say anything, a note that says ‘Xos’ slips under the door. She knows the handwriting from party invites—Kleitos.

Eudoxia reaches down, but Ophelia holds her back.

“Let me explain first, okay? Something happened on the way back. We ran into someone.” Ophelia winces when Eudoxia turns from a lion to a rabbit.

“What do you mean you ran into someone?” she whispers.

“On the way back. We were being careful; I timed it so we wouldn’t leave until dinner when everyone should have been out of the dorms.”

“And?”

“And someone came back early.”

Eudoxia covers her face. “Can you tell me what they look like? If I beg, they might keep quiet.”

“It was Kleitos.”

Eudoxia’s eyes snap to hers like maybe she’ll take it back.

Ophelia wishes she could.