Chapter 33

YENA

“He’s your BROTHER?”

I could hardly process what Nolan was saying to me.

“Half-brother,” he corrected.

He slid his phone over to me. The screen was open to a news article that had been published early this morning and was now, apparently, being reposted all over social media.

The article had a horrible, salacious headline about me, and contained a bunch of pictures of me and Adan under his umbrella. I couldn’t believe it.

And apparently, the professor had been keeping a secret from me — the fact that he was actually my brother-in-law.

“Why didn’t you tell me about any of this before?” I asked Nolan, pushing the phone back over to him. “And did you know that he was teaching at the Academy?”

My voice was getting a little high pitched and squeaky so I took a pause and cleared my throat before continuing.

“I’m sorry,” I said, “I don’t know why but I’m a little freaked out by this.”

“That’s okay,” he said. “And I think… that you should trust your instinct about that.”

“Hmm?” I asked over a mouthful of split pea soup.

“That feeling,” he said. “That’s your gut instinct, and you should listen to it. This photograph with you two under the umbrella, it might seem like just a harmless mistake or weird coincidence, but… I think he set it up, Yena.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “How could he have possibly set that up?”

“Well,” Nolan said, “do you usually have paparazzi following you around campus?”

I took a big bite out of a buttered roll and gave the question some thought.

The answer was no. I’d never been followed or photographed on campus before this.

“But why would he do that? What can he possibly gain from this?” I asked, pointing at the phone.

He shook his head and sighed.

“I am not sure,” he finally said. “But I don’t trust him. And… I want you to stay away from him from now on, if you can.”

My knee-jerk reaction, of course, was to rebel. To insist I was a grown woman and could take care of myself.

But I had to admit that Nolan might be right. This whole thing was suspicious at best.

At worst, it was part of some malicious plot.

“Okay,” I said.

Nolan gave me a serious look and I saw in his eyes that he was very grateful I wasn’t fighting him on this.

“So, when was the last time you saw or spoke to Adan?” I asked.

“Ten years ago,” he said. “The night before he left the country with his high school girlfriend. She was a human exchange student, and they ran away together, back to her home country.”

I thought about what Adan told me the day before, when we were in his office. About why he returned here. I wondered if the girl he ran away with all those years ago was the same one who wound up breaking his heart.

Nolan didn’t ask me any questions after showing me the article and telling me about who Adan really was.

Not, Why were you alone in his office with him?

Or, Is there something going on between you?

Part of me wished he would be at least a little bit jealous.

But even if he had been jealous, I probably wouldn’t have been able to tell. The prince was very good at hiding his emotions, especially ones he thought might make him look weak or vulnerable.

We went upstairs after dinner and took turns showering separately. Then we went to bed. We were both worn out from our afternoon of fencing and fell asleep almost immediately.

I did tell Nolan over dinner that I would stay away from Adan.

But I woke up in the morning alone in a cold bed, and changed my mind.

I just wanted to go and confront him about the whole thing. Just once. Maybe he would lie to me, but maybe he’d tell the truth.

I wanted to hear his side either way. I wanted an explanation.

“Excuse me, Professor,” I said, knocking on Adan’s office door.

He looked up and smiled.

“Yena,” he said in a tone of pleasant surprise.

I had no patience for games. I pushed the door open and strode in with purpose.

“Why didn’t you tell me,” I demanded, “that you are my husband’s half-brother?”

He smiled nervously and rose from his chair.

“You saw the article,” he said.

“Yes, I saw the article,” I replied. “And so did Nolan, and so did everyone else in the world.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I can explain.”

“Alright then,” I snapped. “Explain.”

“Do you want to sit down, though?” he asked, gesturing to the chair behind me.

I rolled my eyes. But I sat.

He sat back down into his chair as well.

“I’ve been trying to keep a low profile,” he said, “since I got back here. It’s not like I’m keeping identity a secret. But my past is just… not something I like to bring up.”

“Not even,” I asked, “when you’re beginning a new friendship with someone who doesn’t know yet that they’re married to your brother?”

He tilted his head to the side and smiled.

“Is that what this is?” he asked. “Are we friends?”

“No,” I snapped. “That’s not what I was saying. What I meant was that you and I… I don’t know, we were talking, and you gave me the book and everything, and it just seems now like you were hiding this big secret from me the whole time, and I just want to know why.”

His smile faded and he nodded seriously.

“I get it,” he said. “I can see how it might look like that from your perspective. I hope you can understand, though, that from my point of view, I’ve had only just two brief and unexpected interactions with you.”

I looked out the window. It was another gray and gloomy day.

Nolan didn’t think my meeting Adan was unexpected. He said it was a set-up.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Adan continued. The little mischievous smile was creeping back up. “I have greatly enjoyed our very brief interactions, but you and I hardly know anything at all about each other.”

“That’s not true,” I said. “I told you all kinds of stuff about me. I’m not even sure why I did.”

He chuckled and said, “Oh yeah, you kind of did, didn’t you?”

I couldn’t help but laugh a little as I recalled that scene in the library.

But something occurred to me then.

“Hey,” I said, “why were you in the Arts Building that morning, anyway?”

He coughed and shifted in his chair.

“Hm,” he started. “Well, I guess since you and I are friends now, I can be honest.”

I waited.

“The truth is,” he continued slowly, “that I drank four cups of coffee that morning. I was on my way to the administrative building when I realized I needed to find a bathroom urgently. Fortunately, the Arts Building was open, and the first-floor restroom is where I was coming from when I saw you picking chocolate frosting out of the library carpet.”

We looked at each other and both burst out laughing at the same time.