‘No, it’s totally different,’ Zoe said before Jo could reply. ‘Everyone comes to the winter ball.’
‘She’s right,’ Jo said. ‘Alumni come back, the entire board of directors usually comes. And I’ve heard a juicy rumour about this year.’
‘Oh God,’ Carter murmured, sipping from a glass of water.
‘Just say it,’ Lucas said. ‘You know you won’t rest until you’ve said it.’
‘Go on then, Jo.’ Rachel sat forward eagerly. ‘Spread the goss.’
‘Apparently,’ Jo leaned forward and lowered her voice, ‘lots of international politicos are coming this year. As in presidents. Prime ministers. Chancellors.’
As soon as Jo said the word ‘chancellors’, Allie felt her blood temperature drop.
She cleared her throat. ‘Any names?’
‘Totally.’ Jo looked delighted. ‘Henry Abingdon, Joseph Swinton and Lucinda Meldrum were the names I heard.’
Carter and Rachel, who both knew about Lucinda, were careful not to meet Allie’s eye. She sat stunned, staring at Jo.
Lucinda is coming here? For the ball?
The grandmother she’d never met – who never even travelled across London to meet her – would be at Cimmeria. They’d be in the same room.
The others were now all talking at once in excited tones.
‘President Abingdon!’ Zoe sounded breathless. ‘I wanted him to be my other dad.’
Under the table, Carter took Allie’s hand and squeezed it gently. When nobody was paying attention, he leaned over and whispered into her ear, ‘Did you know she was coming?’
She shook her head.
Before he could respond, the doors at the end of the dining hall swung open and the staff streamed in carrying heaping trays of food. The students gave their customary cheer, but this time Allie couldn’t even fake a smile.
Everything was too messed up.
As soon as dinner ended, Carter disappeared. When he turned up in the common room twenty minutes later, he looked pale. Allie was on a sofa pretending to read The Great Gatsby as somebody pounded on the piano, each note sending a shard of glass into her tired head.
‘Allie.’ His jaw was tight. ‘Can I have a word?’
Frowning, she looked up at him. He didn’t sound right and, when she met his eyes, she saw anger there. Fear uncurled near her heart.
Has he found out about Christopher?
She followed him into the hallway. His muscles tense, he took quick, jerky steps, shoving open the door of the great hall. When they walked into the vast dark room he didn’t turn on the light. His eyes glittered in the faint ambient glow from the windows.
‘Did you tell Isabelle about what Gabe said to me?’
Her heart seemed to stop. Swallowing hard, she nodded. ‘I didn’t want to, Carter, but I had to.’ She took a panicked step towards him. ‘Not to get you into trouble but just in case the information was useful to the work she and Raj Patel are doing.’ Her words sounded weak and pathetic to her own ears.
‘Bloody hell, Allie.’ He walked a few steps away then turned back to face her. ‘Why didn’t you at least warn me? Now I look like a … I don’t know. Liar? Murderer?’
Aghast, she shook her head with fierce insistence. ‘No, Carter. Isabelle would never think that. They’re just surprised you didn’t mention it – they know you’re not …’
‘Do they?’ He crossed his arms. ‘Thanks to you I think they’re not so certain of that any more.’
Her shoulders slumped and the pounding in her head grew exponentially louder. She’d messed this up, too. Why couldn’t she do anything right?
‘I’m so sorry, Carter. That was the last thing I wanted to happen. I just didn’t know what else to do.’ She tried to read his expression to see how much trouble he was in. ‘What are they going to do to you?’
‘Nothing,’ he muttered. ‘I mean not really. Isabelle was angry. And she told me she was disappointed in me. That I should know better. The usual. But you’re right. I don’t think she suspects me of anything.’
The tightness in her chest eased – he wasn’t in real trouble. ‘I’m sorry, Carter. It’s all my fault. I did the wrong thing. I know it sounds stupid but I was trying to help.’
And I trusted my instincts. Always an idiotic thing to do.
‘Damn it, Allie.’ He seemed to be calming down now and he walked back towards her. ‘Just be careful, OK? You can do a lot of damage trying to help.’
She nodded miserably. ‘Do you believe me, though? That I didn’t mean to get you in trouble?’
‘Of course I believe you.’ The question seemed to puzzle him and he pulled her into a rough hug. ‘You wouldn’t lie to me.’
After that, the throbbing in her head was making it hard to think, so Allie escaped to her room. When the door closed behind her, she glanced at the clock.
Eight-thirty. If she was going to be any use to Sylvain tonight she needed to get some rest. Setting her alarm for eleven-thirty she lay down on the bed.
But the moment her eyes closed, last night’s events played out for her like a film. She’d stayed in Sylvain’s room for hours while they plotted out what they would do tonight. It had been odd to feel so comfortable, curled up across from him on the bed, wearing his pyjamas, as he sketched out for her on a piece of paper her precise route for tonight. But the longer they talked the more relaxed she felt.