Cardinal Tower (Trinity Central Book #1)

Chapter 15

"That stupid Kai, assigning Silas as my guard. I don't need someone constantly watching over me, let alone that Rex breathing down my neck. Can't something go right just once? Once! That's all I ask. But no. I'm stuck here with these fancy rooms, and their fancy clothes, and their stupid fancy food," I murmur my frustrations under my breath as Shona sits across from me, nodding along as though she were actually listening. I pace back and forth in my bedroom, stomping on the carpet like it'd help me vent my anger.

"Why again are you upset with that Stafford boy?" Shona asks me.

"Do you not know how the Stafford's terrorized the people after Carpa Malum? These Rex's with their undeniable power, and yet they do nothing when it really matters." I clenched my fists in frustration, still moving across the room.

"Castelle, you need to remember, Silas isn't his father." I stop and look at her. "It was his father that made those decisions. As far as I can see, he's trying to get away from it all."

What she says makes sense, and I can't deny it. "That may be true, but I'm still not exactly the most trusting towards anyone with the Stafford name."

Shona looks away for a moment, sighing when she realizes I'm too stubborn to change at this very moment. "And what about Malachi? President Malachi Blaire?"

I look away at the mention of his name, a combination of anger, hatred, and bile rising in my throat. "Our relationship was broken long ago," I start, glaring as I speak, "and neither of us are really trying to fix it."

It looks like she wants to ask more, but for fear of prying, she decides against it. I wouldn't have answered her either way as I still haven't decided whether or not to fully trust her. As the grandfather clock in the hall chimes, Shona gets up, realizing the late hour. She pats my hand before leaving, then disappears behind the door connecting out two rooms.

I fall face first onto my bed and try to scream, but all that comes out is a disappointing sigh. What I wouldn't give to be back on the streets. My mind wanders back to an old memory I had with Devon.

* * *

Before our castes, before the Karmas, before Carpa Malum, there was one place we'd always run off to together. We were eleven at the time, but I can remember it like it was yesterday, every detail still freshly etched in my mind.

Behind the schoolyard, past the chain link fence that kept all the children in, there was a hill, only about twenty yards steep or so at a slight incline. Green grass blanketed the ground, yellow dandelions starting to peek between the strands, signifying the early start of spring. My desk was in the back corner of the classroom, allowing me to stare out the window without any repercussions.

My teacher didn't really mind my spacing out in class since my marks were so high. Not all of my classmates appreciated my "special treatment", but I've grown to be placid towards their taunts. Throughout grade school, I made some friends, but I also lost all of them somewhere along the way. I've only ever needed one.

We were given our weekly computation assessment in math class, sixty basic questions in sixty seconds. I had just finished mine in about thirty-five, and so my eyes glazed over as I watched the blades of glass bending with the wind, creating lighter green stripes in the ground that appeared to be moving. The clock was ticking, and what finally broke the silence was a subtle skipping in the hallway. Devon and I had a signal for when one of us just needed to talk to the other, two quick steps followed by three slower ones down the corridor. The tapping of his shoes tells me that I was needed outside of the second-floor bathroom, and so I left.

Devon pulled me from our secret meeting place, and we somehow snuck out of the building through the cafeteria. The only other people who we've shown the entranceway to were the Blaire siblings, but that relationship seems to have died a lifetime ago.