Page 175 of Depraved Boys

Prakash turned on the kettle and picked up the teapot. “Corrine seemed perfectly normal before I started the game and perfectly normal until Geraldine and Bianca announced that she was my pig.”

The only way I could describe my brain during this conversation was déjà vu.

“Then she changed.” I quickly added, “Cormac said she had become obsessed.”

He knelt at his cupboard and pulled out a few items. “That’s a mild way to put things, but towards the end, Corrine was no longer the sweet girl I knew.”

As I nodded, my gaze caught the knife in Prakash’s hand. My stomach twisted, and I placed my hand on the arm of the sofa… Just in case my memories were all wrong. “There’s one more thing about that night.”

His brows drew together. “What?”

“You telling me that you’d always save me. And you’ve always been there for me whenever possible.”

“But not enough.” He placed the knife on the cabinet and picked up a cake tin.

A gust of relief blew through my insides, and I gave myself a mental slap for not dismissing Miss Claymore’s words. I pushed myself off the sofa and strode to the other side of the room.

“Kash, look at me.”

He turned around, meeting my gaze, his dark, fathomless eyes etched with pain.

I pressed my hands on both his cheeks. “You couldn’t possibly have killed Corrine.”

“How could you know?” bitterness laced his voice. “You weren’t even in the academy when she died.”

“Because you made a stupid mistake when you were young. Because two vindictive girls got between you and poisoned Corrine’s mind. Because no murderer would go to such lengths to rescue a girl he didn’t even know.”

The corner of his lip curled for a millisecond in one of those ironic smiles. Maybe we’d had this conversation already, and I’d forgotten it. Maybe it was because he considered us more than just classmates.

Both Leopold and Sebastian had suggested that Prakash and I had become close on that forgotten Monday. It was hard to imagine how I might have broken through his hard exterior and touched the kind soul underneath, but I must have done or said something terrible to him to drive him away. It had taken nearly the entire term for him to warm to me.

“What happened between us?” I pulled my hands away from his cheeks.

His brows drew together. “I don’t follow.”

“Did we…” My gaze dipped, and warmth spread across my cheeks. After everything I’d done with Leopold and Sebastian, it was ridiculous to feel so bashful around Prakash. I gazed at him through my lashes and asked, “Did we kiss or something?”

His liquid-brown eyes dropped to my lips, and a thrill of anticipation shot through my insides. If I’d kissed Prakash and forgotten about it, I’d have to demand a re-do… to jog my memory.

“We opened up to each other,” he said. “Or rather, I told you my darkest secret of how I caused a nice girl’s ruin.”

An image of him downing glass after glass of golden liquid flashed through my mind. As did a memory of him telling me how much Corrine had changed in her last year of life. I furrowed my brow. “But you regret it, now.”

“More than you can ever know,” he rasped. “If I could have saved Corrine, I would, but she’d gone down such a dark path and made the most unforgivable accusations—”

I placed my finger on his lips. “You don’t have to rehash things on my account. My memories are returning.”

“Don’t force it.”

My heart warmed at his concern. What was it about Prakash that made me feel like I’d known him forever? That I could trust him with all my heart, despite his admission of having broken Corrine’s? Perhaps his stand-offish exterior gave the impression that he didn’t open up to many people, and when he did, it was something to cherish.

“Thank you,” I murmured.

“What for?” he asked.

“You went out to the mountains and found me, didn’t you?”

The slight lowering and raising of his gaze told me he had.