Bellegarde by Jamie Lilac

Author:Jamie Lilac
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-04-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Beau

“Evie!” I call out, elbowing my way through the crowd, trying to get to her as she runs to the exit.

I didn’t see what happened, but Dre filled me in well enough. And if it involves Rachelle, it’s never anything good.

When I finally make it outside, she’s disappeared into the night. I look around, panicked, but the only people I see are a group of boys gathered around the fountain, laughing at Cliff, who is dunking his hair in and picking at a sticky purple substance clinging to the ends. Likely serves him right.

“The girl!” I shout to them. “Did a girl just come out this way? Pink dress, pearls in her hair, about this tall.” I hold my hand up to my chest.

“Went that way!” one of them yells back, pointing to the road.

We’re too far from her home. She wouldn’t dare think she could walk there, would she? But then I remember it’s Evie and I remember how stubborn she is, and of course she would.

I run to our carriage, where Francis is sitting with his feet kicked up, smoking a pipe.

“Francis,” I call to him.

“Ah, Monsieur Bellegarde,” he says, startled. “Are you ready to leave?”

“Evie. Did you see her?”

“I can’t say that I did,” he tells me. “Did she come this way?”

“Yes! Let’s go,” I say, climbing up to join him. “To the left, hurry!”

“Oh—okay, on it,” Francis says, frantic.

The horses stir, and soon enough, we are on the road. Francis controls the reins while I steady myself enough to stand and hold out a lantern.

“She’s there,” I tell him. “Just up ahead.”

We’re so noisy coming down the road that there isn’t any possible way she doesn’t hear us, but she pretends not to notice, keeping her eyes ahead.

Francis slows the horses to a leisurely pace, and I lean over the side of the carriage.

“Heard you might need a ride,” I say to Evie.

She takes a deep breath, still not looking at me. “Well, you heard wrong.”

Her heels are in her hands as she walks, barefoot. The light from my lantern catches the back of her dress, and now I can see the damage Rachelle’s done, although, judging by the tear streaks on Evie’s cheeks, it isn’t the only damage that’s been done.

“Let me take you home,” I tell her.

“I’m not getting in,” she says, finally looking at me, “but if you want to ride next to me going no faster than a snail all the way home, then by all means, do so.”

“Sure,” I tell her. “Sounds like a plan. We may even make it there by Wednesday morning.”

She holds her shoulders back and continues walking, determined. She knows I’m right, but it’s Evie, which means that she will walk well into the night before she admits it. So, much to Francis’s shock and dismay, I jump from the carriage and begin to walk with her.

“What are you doing?” she snips at me.

“If you’re walking, then I’m walking.”

“Oh, what, this is supposed to get me

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