“Hello, Daphne Elizabeth,” Jaya said, smiling her best royal smile. Other students were beginning to filter in, and she had to raise her voice to be heard.

“How are you this morning?”

“Fan-freaking-tastic,” Daphne Elizabeth replied, grinning. She turned to Grey and studied him for a moment. “What’s your problem?”

“Nothing.” Abruptly, he pushed his chair back and staggered off.

Daphne Elizabeth looked after him. Jaya watched him get swallowed by the growing numbers of hungry seniors, then turned back to his friends. “I’m not sure what happened… I hope I haven’t offended him in any way.”

Leo and Rahul turned to follow him.

“Well,” Daphne Elizabeth said, blinking and smiling at Jaya even though Jaya could see she was worried about Grey. “I’m starving. Wanna grab some breakfast? The from-scratch buttermilk waffles are to die for.”

“Certainly.” Jaya tossed a glance over her shoulder as they walked. Leo and Rahul had joined Grey over by the coffee and tea counter. None of them were actually ordering anything, though. Their heads were bent together, and they were deep in conversation.

Interesting.

Very interesting, indeed.

CHAPTER 6

Grey

Jaya’s pendant losing a ruby was bringing everything that was wrong with his life, with him, into sharp focus. But he couldn’t speak to anyone about it. Leo, Rahul, and DE didn’t know anything about the curse—or how Grey had murdered his own mother. No one would understand that. It was just one more way he was different from the rest of the student population at St. Rosetta’s. Actually, make that the rest of the human population, period.

Now Grey shrugged off their concerned questions and kept his back turned to them. “I’m fine. I just want some coffee. Okay? Go back to the table.” He reached for the silver cafetière and poured himself a mug of black coffee.

Leo folded his arms across his chest. “C’est des conneries.”

“Leo thinks what you just said, in an attempt to placate us, is bullshit,” Rahul provided.

Grey kept his back turned. “Yeah. I got it. Thanks.”

“So are you going to be honest with us now?” Leo inquired, his eyebrow arched.

Grey gulped down his coffee and set the mug down. “No,” he said, looking back toward Jaya, graceful hands crossed on the table as she listened to whatever DE was saying. “I’m not.”

What he was thinking but didn’t say was that being alone all these years might as well be a death sentence. His family was thousands of miles away. He had people, who, for some reason, kept trying to be a part of his life, but he kept them at a distance too. He didn’t know how to be close with people. Being kept apart from his family because of what he’d done to his mother had taught him that he was toxic. Inherently damaged.