I study his face for a few seconds, but his expression is as calm and hard to read as usual. “Can I?”

“Trust me?” He laughs. “You’re actually asking me if you can trust me. You’re a fascinating girl, I’ll give you that.”

I sit down next to him on the couch. “I’m serious. Layla’s a good person. You, on the other hand, are less of a good person. Everything is a game to you,” I say, and Ash starts to respond, but I stop him. “The other night in the trees, up on that sky bench, you told me that you’re a Wolf and that Wolves are loyal. And I asked you who you’re loyal to, remember? I know that at the very least you’re loyal to your twin. Two minutes with you guys and that’s obvious. Now, Layla has decided to help me. Who knows why, as I’ve proven to be troublesome ever since I got here. But she has anyway. And I don’t know if you’re on board just because Layla is making you, or if it’s because you were out past curfew and helping me helps you, or if maybe you do hope that I’ll get blamed and get the hell away from your sister.”

Ash watches me curiously.

“But what I do know is that every single thing I tell Layla, she tells you. Even if I wanted to filter information to you, I can’t without filtering it to Layla first. I won’t make it on my own without her. As much as I hate to admit it, I’m too vulnerable. So yes, I’m asking you if I can trust you.”

For the first time since I met Ash, he actually looks unsure. “That depends.”

“Okay, I can work with that,” I say quickly, relieved that he’s at least taking my question seriously now. “What does it depend on?”

He looks at me for a long moment, searching for something. “Well…you’re the one student at this school I know nothing about. I don’t know where you stand on important issues or where your immediate family stands or even what kind of people you’re aligned with. Rule number one isn’t a joke. Handing out information about yourself and your family at this school is dangerous. But that doesn’t stop us from trying to learn the basics about one another. Not knowing anything about you makes you more interesting for sure, but it also poses a potential problem.”

I’m reminded of the way Ash looked at me after Layla repeated Nyx’s accusation about Layla being less neutral. “Then why was Layla so adamant about me not talking about myself?” I ask. “If you guys don’t know who I am, wouldn’t Layla be trying to figure it out?”