Page 58 of Reign
Keep playing her game, so you can start your own.
“When are you and Eden headed to town?” I ask.
“We both have a free period after lunch. We’ll go then.”
“Good.”
“Have you called Ahmar about comparing old DNA to yours?”
Preferring to pick at my sweater’s sleeve, I answer, “Not yet. I will.”
Emma doesn’t push it. “Okay. Well, I gotta go. Meeting Chase for breakfast.”
“Oh, yeah?”
She hits me with a droll look as she rises. “Wanna come?”
“No.”
“That was too quick an answer to be real. You sure you don’t want me to tell him what we’re doing? You two may be at odds now, but if he knows you’re mainly after proving Sabine murdered your mother—”
“He already knows that. Chase’ll be at the robing ceremony, anyway, so I have to prepare.”
“Good point. Want me to figure out his plans for fucking up your ceremony instead?”
A genuine smile crosses my lips. “If you can. The guy’s a vault.”
“Tell me about it.” Emma crosses the room to the door.
“Must be a genetic thing,” I say wryly. She responds with a closed-mouthed grin.
“That’s the one talent we don’t regret inheriting from our father,” she responds, then leaves my room.
I wait until she shuts the door, then stand and focus on keeping up pretenses by getting ready for another day at Briarcliff Academy.
* * *
Surprisingly, the week wizzes by, homework assignments and swim lessons taking up my mornings and evenings to the point where I don’t have time to stress about the robing ceremony, except to idly wonder if I fail to hand in my homework, I’ll get an A anyway.
Do I even have to apply for colleges, or will the Virtues do that for me, too?
Despite my thoughts lingering on the question, I’m fairly certain the answer to that doesn’t have worth, since I don’t plan to stay a Virtue past this semester, thus, my studies remain with me.
None of that should be clogging up my mind right now, since I’m gazing at my closet, chewing on my thumbnail, and contemplating the best outfit to wear to tonight’s ceremony.
Emma said first years wore something similar—and as important—as a prom dress, but the only gown I have of that nature was gifted by Sabine, and considering what happened the last time I wore it…
No. I won’t be wearing that atrocity tonight.
This evening, I get to own my power, striding through the temple doors with the knowledge that I own the Virtues. Even if I can’t claim it immediately, that hidden diamond glimmers within my soul, just waiting to be cut from the earth and unveiled to the societies.
I have to be smart about it, though. Sabine’s nothing if not scrupulous with her multiple failsafes should her original plan falter. If I want to beat her, I have to think like her, and collecting evidence against her, silently and willfully, is the first step in succeeding.
Eden and Emma managed to snag—literally—strands from an old hairbrush of Rose Briar’s, on display with other items from her bedroom vanity, carefully protected from the elements in a velvet box when not positioned for tourist’s eyes, not that many frequent Briarcliff. Eden parroted that fact while attempting to dunk me in the swimming pool and push me into a front stroke, stating that the head librarian, Darla, was only too eager to chat Eden’s ear off about the Briarcliff items while Emma subtly lifted the top of the display case, tweezered a few pieces of Rose’s hair from the bristles, and placed it in a plastic baggie before they sat with Darla for another twenty minutes and listened to the founder brothers’ scandals.
Once safely ensconced in my room, we put our heads together and searched on my phone whether 200-year-old hair could be viable for a DNA sample. Turns out, it can, since scientists have identified remains of a Woolly Mammoth by ancient pieces of hair. Even better if the hair follicle is attached. We squinted into the baggie, decided there were indeed clear bulbs attached to the ends of some pieces, and then it was up to me to call Ahmar and explain to him why I’d like 200-year-old hair DNA tested against mine.
It was an awkward conversation, both in my bringing up the mystery of my childhood (thinking I’d found Mom’s great-great-grandma and how it would be an amazing History project to have my genealogy traced against all these other rich kids with vast resources at the fingertips) and his failed relationship with an forensic anthropologist. He also brought up that I’d never seen him for coffee when I was in town, and I was forced to use the baby card, stating I’d fallen in love with Blair and wanted to spend as much time as I could with her before I went back to school.