Page 90 of A Dead Man's B-Side
The rest followed suit and sat around me, too curious to remain in the dark. “Can you match the names to the students?”
Wolf tried to catch my eyes, but I refused to meet his gaze.
Rain remained standing, too skeptical to approach without an acceptable reason. “Why?”
“You can act uninterested, but even August can read the eagerness in your face. This is a win-win.”
Paris blinked at me, most likely gaping at my forwardness, but I was too impatient to find out.
Anyone could have the same name and face structure as Mr Browne, right?
Silently, Rain Atlas Jett sat on the lush carpet with enough class to put any royal to shame before looking over the book’s open pages. “Alright, well, we know that,” she pointed at a tall student with a look of indifference on their face, “is Thaddeus.”
She looked to the two students flanking him, one with an arm over his shoulder and an almost hidden smirk and the other barely leaning on him, but the familiarity was there. Her finger moved to the list of names to the side and slid down before pausing and tapping the first one, speaking in an almost guilty tone, “That one there is Evander… Barthelow Kingsley.”
Wolf flinched.
Ajax whistled.
“Your brother was in the Founder’s Society?” August asked with wide eyes, but Wolf looked as though he’d seen a ghost. His lips parted, but no words came out.
Wolf had an older brother?
An older brother who was in the Founder’s Society?
The revelations just kept coming and I didn’t know what to be more concerned about.
And from August’s tone, Wolf’s brother wasn’t a shock. So, what was it?
Why was this topic so… taboo?
If Wolf’s brother were currently sitting on the board, wouldn’t he help him? Prepare him?
I knew the Kingsleys were on the board, and if Wolf’s father is dead…
Wolf becoming king.
Oh.
Marigold looked away, almost afraid of what might happen next, but I turned back to Rain. “And?”
Rain blinked and stumbled over her next words, a first, before righting herself, though her eyes continued to bounce back to Wolf every once in a while. “Uhm… Uh, Cassius Vale. Yes, that should be Cassius Vale. I’ve met his brother before.” She pointed to the tall boy leaning closer to Thaddeus.
I didn’t let my heartbeat quicken by speculation alone, but the sweat gathering in my palms had other plans. “Who’s Cassius Vale?”
If Thaddeus looked like an older version of himself now, Cassius looked as if he’d grown to be two different people.
Paris leaned forward and eyed the arrogant-looking boy before mumbling, “Cassius… I’ve heard that name before, but where?”
All eyes turned to her as she looked up to the ceiling and thought.
A beat of silence passed, another, then another before she snapped her fingers and said, “Ms Ransom. She said it last week.”
I didn’t understand the context, and I was sure it showed, because she looked at us and explained, “Last week, during lunch, I went into the Teacher’s Lounge because I needed the dean’s signature for an absence. I overheard Ms Ransom talk to someone. I could see her, but the other person was standing around a corner.’”
I opened my mouth to speak, to ask her what they might have sounded like, but Paris spoke up again, “She said something along the lines of ‘Cassius would have mentioned it’, but I didn’t focus long enough to hear any response.”
I didn’t need to ask, however. I was already sure, but perhaps I wanted her to lie. For her to tell me that she’d heard wrong. Or that it turned out to be someone entirely different.
