Chapter 44
Chapter 44
Kael POV
I didn’t stop running until my lungs burned and my chest felt like it was about to split open.
The night air slapped against my face as I burst out of the dorm building.
I bent over with my hands on my knees, breathing hard, trying to get my head straight.
It didn’t work.
Nothing worked.
The image wouldn’t leave me, I kept replaying what I saw in the shower.
I squeezed my eyes shut and swore under my breath.
“No,” I muttered. “No, no, no.”
This couldn’t be real. It had to be some sick joke or some misunderstanding. Some twisted joke the academy was playing on me like it always did.
Because Seth wasn’t—couldn’t be— a girl.
My hands curled into fists so tight my nails dig into my palms.
She lied to me.
She lied to me every single day.
She slept in my room, laughed with me. She let me look at her—touch her arm, corner her in hallways, want her like I was losing my damn mind—and she never told me.
Never told me the truth
I was questioning myself, about my sexuality not knowing the truth.
I paced the courtyard like a caged animal, dragging my hands through my hair. My thoughts crashed into each other, loud and fast.
Was everything fake? Every smile? Every look?
Every moment where I thought she chose me?
My jaw clenched so hard it hurt.
I had made myself sick over her. Questioned myself. Fought with Luca. Nearly lost control more times than I could count.
And she watched it happen.
She let it happen.
“She used me,” I said out loud, the words tasting bitter in my mouth. But even as I said it, something twisted in my chest.
Because that wasn’t true.
The look on her face in that bathroom wasn’t guilt, wasn’t smug , wasn’t triumph either.
It was fear—pure, bone-deep fear. Like an animal caught in a trap.
I stopped pacing my breathing slowed as something else crept in my mind.
A memory.
It came out of nowhere when I was sixteen.
My father’s house. It was during a summer party full of donors and board members.
I frowned, trying to push it away—but it stayed.
I remembered a girl standing near the back entrance, holding a tray of empty glasses. Her head was down. Her hair was pulled back tight. She wore the same stiff uniform all the staff wore.
She looked up for just a second and I saw brown eyes, sharp cheekbones. A face I hadn’t seen before but something about it stuck in my mind.
I remembered thinking she didn’t look like she belonged there.
My stomach dropped as I staggered back a step like someone had punched me.
“No,” I whispered.
Another memory followed more clearer this time. My mother’s voice was low and annoyed
“That new maid brought her daughter again. I told her not to.”
My father replied. “As long as she stays out of sight.”
I sucked in a sharp breath piecing everything together.
The girl by the door...
The girl with the tray...
The girl who looked like she wanted to disappear....
Was— Seth!.
She hadn’t broken into my world, she has been surviving in my world and I had dragged her right into the center of it.
My head snapped up, heart pounding like it wanted to come out of my chest.
“That was him,” I said into the empty night.
She wasn’t just pretending to be a boy.
She was the maid’s daughter— My maid’s daughter.
A bitter laugh tore out of my throat.
“Of course,” I muttered. “Of course it’s you.”
Everything made sense now, and that somehow made it worse. I pressed my hands to my face, trying to breathe through the storm inside me.
Anger surged again tangled with guilt, with shame, with something that felt dangerously close to fear.
If anyone else found out—
My father. The board. The academy.
They wouldn’t see a scared girl who made a desperate choice.
They will see a liability... A problem to erase.
My fists clenched again, and suddenly I remembered Juliette.
She knew.
I thought of Seth curled up somewhere in that dorm, probably shaking, probably blaming herself for everything like she always did.
I didn't even know her name—her real name.
I sank down onto a stone bench, elbows on my knees, staring at the ground.
“I scared her,” I said quietly.
I dragged in a slow breath I was still angry.
Furious, even.
She should have told me. I deserved the truth. I wasn’t stupid—I would have helped her.
Wouldn’t I?
The question lingered, uncomfortable.
Would I have? Or would I have panicked about my father? The academy? My reputation?
I didn’t know.
And that uncertainty scared me more than anything.
Footsteps approached, slow and careful.
I didn’t look up. “If you’re here to tell me to calm down, don’t.”
Alexander stopped in front of me anyway.
“She’s alive,” he said. “Still breathing.”
I snorted bitterly. “That’s a low bar.”
He studied me. “You remember her.”
My head snapped up. “You knew?”
“I suspected,” he said calmly. “Long before tonight.”
My jaw clenched. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because it wasn’t my secret.”
I looked away, grinding my teeth. “She’s the maid’s daughter.”
“Yes.”
“I saw her at my house once,” I said, voice rough. “Years ago.”
Alexander nodded. “That explains a lot.”
“I’m mad,” I admitted. “I’m really mad.”
“That’s allowed.”
“But I’m not stupid,” I continued. “And I’m not blind. Juliette is going to try to destroy her.”
The thought of her smug smile, the way she liked to pull strings and watch people fall apart, made my vision blur with red.
Juliette knew about her and I'm sure she was blackmailing her.
“ Juliette is cunning,be careful.”
I stood abruptly. “Then I won’t let her.”