Page 53 of Wicked Elites

“Who is it?” I tried to keep the tremble out of my voice.

“Cormac, come to take you to dinner,” he said through the door.

I shook my head. “I’ve lost my appetite.”

“You’ve been in there for hours. I know you’re hungry. Do you want me to bring something up from the kitchens?”

My stomach growled. I pulled myself to my feet and walked to the door. “I’ll come with you.”

Cormac stood in the hallway, his shoulders hunched and his head bowed. “I had no idea the girls were planning something so heinous.” The sincerity in his words made my heart ache. “If I’d known, I would have intervened.”

A lump formed in my throat, and my eyes became damp. He was more of a sibling to me than my actual twin. “I know. Thank you.”

He raised his head, a mixture of anger and determination shining in his eyes. The intensity of his gaze made me step back. Then he placed both hands on my shoulders. “Don’t let it slide.” His voice went hoarse, and he broke eye contact. “That’s what Corrine did.”

“Cormac?”

His hands dropped to his side. He stepped away and turned his face to the wall. “If I endure this humiliation, the kings will like me.”

“What?”

He rubbed his temple. “It’s something Corrine once said. One of her bloody devil’s bargains.”

I placed a hand on my friend’s arm. “I’m not going to be like that. As soon as I see Mrs. Benazir or Miss Claymore, I’ll tell them everything.”

“What about the police?” he asked.

“I already made a statement at the hospital while it was still fresh in my mind. The constable told me I could press charges at any time.”

He nodded and set off down the hallway. “If one of them got arrested for this and word leaked to the press, the others would think twice before they carried out something so cruel and disgusting.”

Chewing my lip, I followed after him. The fallout from having my name in the papers as some kind of victim might be worse than the actual assault. It wasn’t like I could ask the search engines and social networks to keep my details off of the internet.

As soon as we stepped into the stairwell, his words fully registered, and my chest tightened. What about scholarships and university interviews? The people awarding them would Google me and find out.

I shook off those thoughts. If I worried about things like that, those girls would continue hurting others until someone died.

Cormac turned to me. “I should warn you that rumors have already spread throughout the academy.”

“I learned that the hard way,” I muttered.

We stepped into the dining room, and whispers filled the air. I tightened my stomach and braced myself for the worst. Heads turned, but no one spoke. My gaze flickered to the head table, where Miss Claymore surveyed the room.

My shoulders relaxed, but I kept my gaze away from the other students. The deputy headmistress’s presence would prevent the madness I had experienced earlier in the day.

Despite the relative quiet, the lining of my stomach trembled.

After collecting our meals, we headed toward our usual place. I looked in the direction of Bruce’s table. Ashley and Bruce weren’t there, but the twins gave me identical death stares. I clenched my teeth and took my seat opposite Michelle.

Fuck them both. No one told their friend to grab my arm and offer me a spit roast.

“Willow?” asked a first-year boy.

I held onto my plate. “What do you want?”

“Why’s everyone calling you rib fucker?”

“Detention, Robert Quigley,” snarled Cormac.