A Gathering Midnight by Holly Race

Author:Holly Race
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781471410307
Publisher: Bonnier Publishing Fiction
Published: 2021-04-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 31

The rest of our tour passes largely without incident, except for a lingering self-consciousness on my part whenever I see Brandon. My embarrassment is made worse by the fact that he is obviously trying very hard not to let things be awkward between us. He does exactly what he’s always done; fetching me a chair, defending me if someone questions anything. But there’s a formality to his behaviour that was never there before.

Ollie spots it first.

‘So did things not go as planned on the picnic?’ he asks, the day after we leave the Highlands, as we head out to school.

‘You knew what he was going to do?’ I say.

‘Well, he didn’t put it in words as such but it was pretty obvious.’ Ollie smirks. ‘Also, I can read minds …’ He shrugs, like, Sorry ’bout it.

‘I just … I didn’t really see him that way until he leaned in, and then I panicked,’ I tell Ollie.

‘Do you even know what feeling that way is like?’ he asks bluntly.

I stick a foot out and kick him in the calf. He laughs, but then stops as we come to the junction where we peel off in different directions to go to our separate schools. ‘Well, do you?’

‘Of course I do,’ I say, although I don’t admit that it’s Samson I think about in that way. The teasing would never stop. Something odd flickers across Ollie’s face: a hunger. But the next moment it’s gone.

‘Is it not worth a try?’ he asks. ‘I mean, someone likes you. That’s pretty great, right?’

My hackles rise. ‘So just because someone likes me, I have to be grateful to them? It doesn’t matter if I fancy them, because they’re all the chance I’ll get?’

‘That’s not what I’m …’ Ollie raises his hands in defeat. ‘Whatever, Fern.’

As Ollie and I stalk our separate ways to school, I can tell that he’s fuming as much as me.

I just want you to be happy, he’ll say, justifying himself. But I don’t see why I should go out with Brandon because of someone else’s notion of what will make me happy.

Why won’t you let your guard down? he’d say. And, if he were here, I’d probably retort with something petty about not wanting to be burned alive again. Because the truth is, I can’t separate the idea that I’m not attracted to Brandon from the thought that even if I was, I’d never be able to trust that he wasn’t with me because of my Immral. In Ithr, I’m too ugly for anyone to genuinely want me. In Annwn, I’m too powerful.

With the Round Tables picking up Immral use all over the country, the extent of Medraut’s reach is becoming obvious. We knew it was bad. We just didn’t know it was this bad. Reports start coming in of nightly sparks of Immral appearing on the Round Table maps. They are everywhere, and as we move through the castles and see the modified tables at work, the violet light is often more commonplace than the blue.

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