Majesty (American Royals, #2)(54)

When they pulled open the door of the pool house, Himari sighed. “It’s too hot in here,” she announced. “Let me get the AC.”

Daphne went to sit down, clicking through the TV menu without really registering what it said. The last time she’d been in here, the night of Himari’s birthday party last spring, this couch had been unfolded into a pull-out bed.

It was where she’d lost her virginity to Ethan.

Daphne braced her palms on the couch cushion beneath her, trying—and failing—not to think about that night. Of the way Ethan’s body had fit against hers, skin to skin.

There was a loud clattering sound from the doorway. Himari had stumbled, barely catching herself from falling to the floor.

Daphne rushed forward, grabbing her friend beneath her arms to steady her. “Are you okay? Should I call your doctor?”

Himari’s face had gone ashen, her eyes fluttering shut. “I just need a minute.”

Daphne helped her to the couch, then found a bottle of water in the mini-fridge and forced Himari to take a few sips. “You probably overexerted yourself today,” she babbled. “Let me help you upstairs. Or do you want me to get your parents?”

Himari’s breaths were quick and shallow. For a terrifying moment, Daphne thought she might have passed out or somehow relapsed into a coma.

Then Himari’s eyes shot open, and Daphne knew at once that something had changed.

“You were in here last year, weren’t you?” Himari asked, speaking very slowly. “With Ethan.”

The hair on Daphne’s arms prickled. She didn’t know how to answer. There was no way she could admit the truth, yet she couldn’t bear to lie to Himari, either. Not after everything her friend had been through.

The misery must have been written there on her face, because Himari drew in a breath.

“I can’t believe it,” she whispered. “You and him—I remember now. I saw you!”

Daphne swallowed against the fear in her throat, sticky and hot like tar. “Let me explain,” she said weakly.

“Explain what? The fact that you cheated on your boyfriend—Jeff is my friend too, you know—in my house?”

“I’m sorry—”

“Sorry that you did it, or sorry you got caught?”

“I’m sorry for all of it!”

Something in her tone must have given her away, because she saw the moment of Himari’s comprehension, as the last piece of the puzzle fell into place.

“Oh my god. The night of the twins’ graduation party. That was you.”

Daphne leaned forward, but Himari lurched unsteadily from the couch. She stumbled back, to where a row of plastic folding chairs leaned against one wall, and held one before her so that its four legs were stretched out like weapons.

“You stay away from me.” Himari’s voice bristled with outrage, and even more heartbreaking, with fear. “You slept with Ethan, and when I confronted you about it, you tried to kill me to shut me up!”

Daphne’s mind was brutally silenced by those words.

“Of course I didn’t try to kill you,” she managed. “I mean, I guess it might seem that way, but you don’t know the whole story.”

“You’re the one who drugged me that night! Aren’t you?”

Daphne glanced down, unable to bear the hurt and disgust on Himari’s face, and gave a miserable nod.

Himari set down the chair, but didn’t move. “You’re unbelievable.”

“I never thought—I just wanted you to do something dumb that night,” Daphne stammered. “Something I could hold over your head, the way you were holding Ethan over mine. I never, ever meant to hurt you. You’re my best friend.”

“I was your best friend, until I got between you and Jeff.” Himari shook her head. “That’s the thing about you, Daphne. You always put yourself first. You’re completely and utterly selfish.”

Daphne winced. It was one thing to know the ugly truth about her choices, another thing entirely to hear it from someone else. “I’m so sorry. Himari—it destroyed me, what happened to you.”

“Are you kidding? You don’t get to ask me to feel sorry for you,” the other girl hissed. “I could have died!”

“If I could take back what happened, I would! It’s the biggest regret of my life!”

Himari looked at Daphne for an interminable moment. “I wish I could believe you,” she said at last. “But you’re too much of a liar. You lie to me and to Jeff, and most of all you lie to yourself.”

Sometimes, when Daphne was asleep, she got trapped in a lucid dream—she had the panicked realization that she was asleep but still couldn’t wake up. She felt like that now, trapped in some warped, nightmarish version of reality.

“Please,” she begged. “Is there anything I can do to fix this?”

Himari shook her head. “Get out. Now.”



* * *





When Daphne got home, her mother was sitting in the living room. There was only one light on, a brass standing lamp that threw strange shadows over her, emphasizing her cruel beauty.

“Where were you?” she asked, without preamble.

Rebecca Deighton was invariably polite to strangers, especially strangers who might prove useful to her at some point in the future. But she never wasted the effort on her own family.