butterflies | ✓

perforce.

Gabriel pulled me away from the others as I walked to the lessons. I was silent as he led me down a few halls and into the library. He pushed back through the shelves of books until we reached the room that he took me in the first time we were alone, and he shut the door behind us.

I whirled around to face him in a flurry of indigo skirts. He seemed only slightly taken aback by how quickly I turned to face him. I assumed that he thought I was angry, because he took one long look at my face before relaxing slightly. "Is everything all right, Lady Lysel?"

"Perfect," I scowled at him. "But I heard something awful about some of the girls sent home last night."

Unfortunately, Gabriel had mastered the art of impassiveness. He turned to examine a sword in a case to my right so that he didn't have to look at me. "They were probably rumors."

"Unlikely," I scoffed. "Corinna told me after dinner."

He hissed something that I didn't quite catch and turns to face me, barely-concealed fury lighting up his golden eyes. "They said awful things. I won't stand for that."

I took a step closer and grab onto his wrist, rubbing the muscles in his hand to unclench his fist. I'd seen my mother do it many times to my father, and each time it worked. It did for Gabriel, too, and after a minute the muscles loosened. "What did they say about me?" I inquired in a low voice, tracing my fingertips over the lines in the palm of his hand.

"How do you know they said something about you?" He replied. He trembled a little, although the movement was barely noticeable.

"Corinna." I didn't bother going in circles with it. We wouldn't get anywhere if that was all we ever did. "And your sudden anger at a mere mention of it is helpful."

"Oh, Lysel," he sighed, tucking some hair behind my ear. "You wouldn't want to hear it."

I tilted my head a little to lean more into his touch, unaware of what exactly it was that I was doing until I'd already done it, and by then it couldn't be taken back. "I'm not fragile," I murmured.

"I know," He sighed once more. "But I would hate to see you hurt. Please don't be cross with me for keeping this from you." His hand slipped out of mine and drops down, wrapping around my waist. He pulled me close to him and cradled my head against his chest, right over his steady heartbeat. My eyes fluttered shut.

I spoke before I can think not to. "A few years ago, there was a boy." I told him quietly. He stiffened a little. "I wasn't older than fourteen when we met, and he was nearly seventeen. I thought that I was in love with him, and he constantly declared his love for me. It was very much like it had been with you and the maid."

He buried his face in my hair, his nose and lips brushing against the side of my neck.

"He was...God, he was perfect. And I was so happy with him, too. But then it turned out that he didn't love me, not really. While he was promising me the world and more, he was...loving another girl."

Gabriel inhaled sharply. "How did you find out?" He asked, voice muffled.

"I didn't," I said. "The girl came to me and told me herself. She found out, not me. Her name was Arom Chaiprasit, and she'd been my friend and neighbor nearly since we were born. And then came another girl, named Aaliyah Walker. She was my other neighbor. And María Gomez was the last to come forward, and the only other one."

I didn't think it was possible, but Gabriel pulled me even closer to him.

"He was fooling all of us. I still wonder how he did it, because all of us are brilliant girls and all of us live on the same block." I explained. "I mean, I can't even feel sad about it anymore, because it's the past and it's done and now I'm just confused."

"What did you do?" He asked.

"We anonymously reported him after he turned eighteen, because he didn't know that we were all conspiring against him. He thought he still had us fooled. I think he's still in prison, actually." I added the last part as an afterthought.

His shoulders shook with laughter. He pulled back enough that he could look me in the eyes. "Would it be safe to say that I'm going to have my hands very full with you?"

I grinned and nodded. "Yes, but you have nothing to worry about. Mostly because I'd probably be a criminal and would probably get severely punished..."

He laughed again, and once his laughter had faded, his look returned to being a little more serious. "How exactly did you get him convicted?" He asked.

"He was using messages to try and convince Arom and Aaliyah to...um, let him take their virginity. Which, as I'm sure you're aware, is completely illegal. So we took the messages and anonymously turned them in. He was also threatening me when I tried pushing him away."

I didn't like the look on his face. The fury in his eyes earlier had been enough, but this? I couldn't even begin to describe the emotion, because I didn't know what it is. "What, exactly, was the nature of these threats??"

"It's not important."

"It is."

"He's already been convicted and lowered to an Eight. It's fine."

Gabriel didn't argue against it, and I wasn't surprised by this. He exhaled slowly and took a few deep breaths before speaking again. "Is that what Lily meant when she told me that you have several noxious skeletons in your closet?"

"I very much doubt that Lily said noxious, but no." I wanted to laugh, but his expression made me decide that that would not be very appropriate. "There are...worse things. I'm not ready to talk about them yet."

"I understand." He looked around the room, and then back to me. "I just realized something."

"And that is?"

He smiled down at me, and my heart lightened and palpitated a little and I wasn't sure if I liked the feeling or not, though I could tell that it was one I would have to get used to. "This is the closest I've been to you and the other girls so far, and I think I enjoy it."

"Being close to a girl?"

"No," His smile seemed to grow in a way that was infectious, and I found myself returning it. "I think I enjoy being this close to you."