Free Treason: Book Two of the Grimoire Saga (a Young Adult Fantasy series) by S.M. Boyce Page A

door.
    Braeden wrapped his hand around the small of her back and pulled her toward him before she had time to tense or resist. He kissed her forehead.
    “Think about it,” he said.
    He pulled himself onto the overhang as Twin’s foot rounded the corner. He crouched on the ledge, out of sight.
    Kara grinned into the stairwell. “How are you doing, Twin?”
    “There you are! The Gala is going to start soon, and you need to be at the procession line. Are you ready?”
    “Sure am,” Kara said with a nod.
    Twin’s voice continued from the stairwell. “Have you seen Braeden, by chance? We can’t find him anywhere.”
    “That’s weird. No, I haven’t.”
    Braeden studied Kara’s expression—her face remained perfectly smooth, without even a twitch in her lip to give away the lie. She would have convinced him, even, under different circumstances.
    When did she learn to lie?
    Kara smiled again at Twin and disappeared into the stairwell without another glance upward.
    Braeden sat on the overhang and sighed. It shouldn’t have bothered him so much that she could lie. Of course she knew how. She’d hid the truth about what he was, and no one was the wiser. She’d kept her real reason for pushing him away a secret, too—for a while, at least. How she could let herself be lonely because she’d lost her parents, he couldn’t fully understand.
    He groaned. How hypocritical. Of course he could understand—he just didn’t want to.
    He picked up a few pebbles from the mountain beside him and passed them through his fingers since he didn’t have any grass to rip apart. Well, at least none he could reach without moving. He needed to get to Gavin’s temporary study to prepare for the procession, but it was more important that he wait a while longer to give the girls a head start. He couldn’t risk someone knowing he’d been alone with Kara.
    After ten minutes, he jumped off and trotted down the stairs, his eye peeled for Hillsidians. The upper levels remained empty, though, and he passed down to the lower levels without a moment’s hesitation.
    He retraced his steps to Gavin’s study to the best of his ability, but had to stop a passing guard for help in choosing the right corridor. Another fifteen minutes passed before he made it to his adoptive brother’s office.
    Braeden opened the door to find Gavin sitting at the desk.
    “You’re late,” the Blood said.
    “I am. Where’s Richard?”
    “I told him to wait in his room,” Gavin said with a nod to the hallway.
    “Why?”
    “So that I could talk to you alone for a moment.”
    Braeden’s fist tightened instinctively. Gavin knew. There was no other reason for his wanting to speak alone. He must have figured him out somehow. Maybe he’d ordered a spy to track Kara or had simply seen the two of them in the garden. Or—
    “At a minimum, are you going to apologize? It’s inconsiderate,” Gavin said.
    Braeden paused. Inconsiderate was not the word he would have chosen for twelve years of lying and deception.
    Come to think of it, Braeden would already be in poisoned handcuffs if Gavin knew the truth. This was about something else entirely.
    “What am I supposed to apologize for, exactly?” he asked.
    Gavin smacked his desk and stood. “ Bloods , Braeden! What happened to you? Your mind is always somewhere else. You don’t talk to me or Richard any more. You’ve completely changed! And for what, some human girl?”
    “Don’t speak about K—”
    “I am your Blood, and I will speak however I please!”
    Braeden clenched his jaw to bite back the scathing rebuttal that would have ruined everything.
    Yes, he’d changed since he met Kara. He was on edge now, constantly afraid that he would be discovered. But it wasn’t her so much as the truth—that the Grimoire couldn’t break his blood loyalty to Carden—that had changed him. All of his hope for freedom had disappeared the night the Grimoire became useless to him.
    “People change, Gavin. You’re