Free The Rise of Ren Crown by Anne Zoelle

pile. “Why aren't you at the Visiting Center?”
    His gaze raked me. “I'm exactly where I need to be. Julian and Nick are taking care of family matters.”
    “Don't you have to get ready to go back to the competition?”
    “Not if I'm not returning.”
    I fumbled the papers. “ What? ”
    He lifted the sheets from my unresponsive hands. “I actually anticipated that you'd be gone already, and that I'd have to chase you down somewhere outside of campus tonight.”
    That would explain his relief at seeing me, then.
    He looked down at the pages in his hand. “You think I could be tricked with a three-strike projection?” he said, reading the top page of the stack—all notes on him . “I'm offended.”
    I grabbed the papers out of his hands and stuffed them into a pile in the corner, then put a book on top. I crossed my arms and tried to stop the heat that was broiling my face from within. “What do you mean, chase me down? And what do you mean not returning? You can't miss your competition.”
    “Why not?”
    I stared at him. “Because the tournament is...important?” It had been the most talked about thing for months . It was the event of the year, the one that earned all of the accolades. The one that had earned Dare the lofty reputation he had.
    “It's a competition. A game. A sport.”
    I stared at him.
    “You didn't think I was just going to let you break through the perimeter ward and wave good-bye, did you?” He looked unimpressed with me.
    I processed his remark for a few long moments, then nodded slowly. “Okay.”
    He looked distinctly amused. “Okay?”
    “Having you along will be quite helpful, when I flee,” I said. I didn't have the first clue about what I would find when I located Olivia, other than that Raphael would be waiting for me.
    Dare smiled, the edges of his eyes crinkling in genuine amusement. It was a smile I had gotten used to seeing, but it always made my heart rate increase.
    I smiled tentatively back.
    “Tell me about Emrys—or more accurately Raphael Verisetti.”
    And just like that, my stomach dropped to stone.
    “How...? You know?” I asked woodenly. Raphael hadn't been wearing his own face in the golem. The golem had worn the face of the real Emrys Norr—though I had no idea where the real Emrys was—then when Constantine had broken through some of the spells, it had worn the face of my brother.
    Dare gave me an unimpressed stare in answer.
    “Did you know before today?” I asked, feeling drained again.
    His eyes narrowed with an edge of cold anger. “I would never let Verisetti remain on campus.”
    I wiped a shaky hand across my face, unable to look at that expression; still I held firm in response. “Yeah? I have a bad habit of being the last to know around here. Aren't you going to ask me if I knew before today?”
    “I know that you did not.”
    I looked back at him. None of the anger remained on his face. Instead, there was a sort of casually dissecting regard.
    “You show your emotions freely,” he said. “No one could have faked that level of distress. And, you don't have it in you to kick in with a terrorist. Not even with your bad taste in 'business partners',” he said, referencing the conversation we’d had the night I'd found out Alexander and Constantine were roommates.
    “Besides, I heard a small part of your conversation while I was trying to dismantle the dome he erected,” Dare said.
    Exasperation swept through me, which was a relief in the wake of all the other coiling emotions.
    I collapsed on my bed, drawing my feet beneath me.
    “You could have led with that statement, you know.” From my bed I had a clear view of the emptiness on the other side of the room. Instead of dwelling on it, I focused on Dare.
    “Raphael was present when I Awakened. He tricked me. Took advantage of my grief. Over...” I ran a hand over the photo near my pillow—the edges of the photo soft and distressed. “Over my brother.” My twin who Dare had seen