The exam! “Oh, shoot. I forgot to ask how your final went this morning?”
“Good, I think.” Her normally confident tone when it comes to tests is missing, but with the gauntlets and the exams, the last few months have been hard for all of us.
She looks at the time on her iPhone and then hops up, yanking out her rollers. “Crap. I have to go. I’ll be back in a few.”
“I’ll go with,” I chirp, moving to follow her.
Her back is turned, shoulders tight as she shakes her head. “No need. I’ll be right back.”
“I don’t mind.” I grab a light cardigan.
She’s frowning when she turns to face me, her arms crossed. “I’m going to the gym for our final physicals, okay?”
“Our what?”
“Every quarter, before our tests, second year and above shadows have to pass physicals.”
“Physicals?” I repeat, imagining running sprints and being timed.
“Yeah. Remember? They take our measurements and weight, check our BMI. Make sure we’re up to certain impossible male standards that set us back like fifty years. You know, important stuff.”
Confused lines wrinkle my forehead. “I’ve never had to do that.”
Exhaling, she meets my eye. “That’s because you’re the special guardian of Prince Sylverfrost, and he demanded you be exempt.”
“What? Why doesn’t Asher exempt you?”
“Because only the Winter Prince could demand something like that. Besides, I wouldn’t ask him to, not when everyone else has to pass the same standards.”
My chest tightens. Suddenly all her excuses for not eating, like being too busy or her stomach hurting or having eaten earlier, make sense.
“I didn’t ask him to do that,” I insist, trying and failing to keep the hurt from my voice.
“I know, okay? I’m not saying you did.”
My stupid bottom lip tugs low as tears threaten to fall. I feel so horrible. How could I not have noticed she was starving herself for some ignorant standard? “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I mentioned it at the beginning of the school year, but then . . .” She shrugs. “I didn’t want to make you feel bad. You already have so much going on.”
“Mack, I didn’t know. If I had—”
“See why I didn’t tell you?” She wraps me in a quick hug. “And I don’t think it’s unfair, not really.”
“But the others do?”
“Some, maybe. But they’ll get over it. I tried telling them it wouldn’t matter. You’re like a weird gazelle who never gains weight.”
I smack her arm. “Yeah, especially my boobs. If I could just have half of yours . . .”
Her smile lights up her blue eyes, easing any leftover tension between us. “The ILB likes your boobs, and these puppies are not for sale.” She stares lovingly at her rack in the mirror. “They’re my best asset.”
“Wrong,” I say, a sudden sappiness coming on. “Your heart is your best asset.”
She hugs me again, longer this time. “Hurry and meet me at the banquet. I have a surprise for you.”
As I watch her go, I mull over my hurt at being kept in the dark over the physicals. Why didn’t she tell me? It’s not like I’ve kept anything from her . . .
Oh, hell.