Page 128 of Because I Killed Him
“I’m sorry for leaving you,” Harrison cuts in, his voice heavy. “I don’t expect you to forgive me. I just want you to know I hate myself for it.”
Had he said those words a few months ago, I’m sure my heart would’ve been harder. Back then, I felt abandoned. But after everything—the lowcivil credit scares, the repeated narrow escapes from death, the ugly face of our world showing itself again and again—my anger has faded. I look at Harrison now and realize we don’t need words. It’s in his eyes and probably in mine, too. A single glance reveals the scars.
“There’s nothing to forgive, Harry,” I say quietly. “I get it now.”
“Then why don’t you look afraid?”
“I still am sometimes, but… well, Edmund’s good to me.” My eyes drop to Harrison’s bruised wrist, still hidden beneath his sleeve. “How does Lily treat you?”
Harrison’s fingers tighten behind his back. His posture is so stiff it looks like he’s balancing a knife between his shoulder blades, terrified of letting it fall.
“As well as I can expect from a Blue,” he replies at last, unfastening his scabbard. The saber clinks against the bartop as he lays it down, the gesture slow, as if he’s setting aside something far heavier than graphene.
He lowers himself onto one of the brass stools, the seat still sticky with spilled beer. I slide onto the stool beside him and run a finger along the counter’s scarred wood. The Pinkies will come soon, mop up the mess, and make it seem like the night never happened.
“Why are you talking to me, Harry? Did Lily change her mind about you cutting ties with me?”
“No. But now that I’m your Grandmaster, the rules don’t apply during Fraternity meetings.”
I narrow my eyes at the empty room. “The meeting is over, though.”
“Yeah, but Lily won’t find out. Our entourage isn’t supposed to meet until tomorrow morning, and—” Harrison pauses, as if a thought just struck him. “Are you logged out?”
I immediately realize he’s talking about the Grandmaster Map, the system we must log into from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., making our locations visible to everyone on campus. But it’s well after seven.
“Yeah,” I say. “You?”
Harrison nods, his mouth softening into the first smile I’ve seen from him all night. “Got time for a beer?”
“Sure, but…” My voice trails off as I gaze out the window at the Luminescent Lake. The water shimmers with scattered starlight, a rippling sheet of bioluminescence that casts an eerie glow across the beach. Beyond the shoreline, the ocean stretches into seemingly endless darkness, and above it, the energy shield rises into the night, its artificial light spilling in fractured beams over the waves.
“I’ve got a better idea.”
My hoverboard sprays mist across theNo Swimmingsign as I cut over the vast, empty span of the Luminescent Lake. The water shines like the inside of a seashell, an endless tide of blues and purples pulsing with light beneath me. The campus regulators keep the lake’s temperature steady, so the water stays warm even in winter.
Harrison glides beside me, loose as a jazz riff. He throws himself into a tail drag, his board skimming so low it kicks up an arc of water, then flips the board cleanly beneath him before his feet find their place again.
“Show that trick to Viv, and she’ll marry you twice,” I call.
“Oh, she’s seen it.” He laughs. “Made sure to show it off right away.”
Grinning, I push my own limits, shifting my weight back until my board tilts onto a single edge. The antigravity tech hums beneath my feet as I ride the thin line between control and a headlong fall into the lake. Below, hundreds of colorful fish weave through the currents, their scales reflecting the water’s glow like molten jewels.
Piranhas.
These aren’t the dull, bloated creatures of the wild but sleek, engineered predators, designed for speed and the kind of efficiency that leaves no bones behind. The piranhas’ teeth flash as they slice through the depths, mouths opening and closing, ready for something—or someone—to slip in with them.
Harrison catches me watching. “A second-year fell in last year. The Pinkies only found his Blood Ring.”
“What the hell?” I grimace. “Why do they keep piranhas in here at all?”
“The Blues insist on it. They say we don’t have to fear the piranhas because nature is a slave to us.”
Maybe nature is a slave to the Blues, but I sure as hell wouldn’t want to test my luck. I crouch lower on my board and watch the deadly fish swimbeneath me, struck by how beautiful they are, like this world of ours, where everything dazzles until it doesn’t.
Harrison and I carve across the open water, side by side. Wind whips past, cool against my flushed skin, carrying the electric taste of storm-filtered ozone and distant sea salt. Ahead, the Sailing Strip rises from the center of the lake, a floating marble platform gleaming under the moonlight, like polished whale hide. The Sailing Strip is where the Mensur will take place at the end of the academic year, where Jack will face a first-year Blue in a duel broadcast live to the entire university.
I glide closer, and as I circle the platform from below, I can almost hear the echo of clashing blades on the piste above. I wish it could be me. I wish I at least had the chance to take up a saber and prove myself. I keep rising, lost in thought, when Harrison skids to a stop beside me, sending a spray of water across my face. His skin has gone pale, and his hands tremble as though he’d nearly lost his balance and plunged into the lake.
