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first place,” Andy said.
      Rae sat back in surprise. This goes THAT far back? “He wasn’t gifted, was he?” Nothing could shock her now.
    Devon and Andy laughed before Devon replied, “No, he just wanted to find someone gifted to help get him a male heir.”
    Molly rolled her eyes from across the table. “He should’ve thought about not wearing those awful-looking tights, or maybe spoken to a doctor to learn it’s the male who determines the sex of babies.”
    Rae glanced sideways at her, wondering if Molly realized yet that the science of genetics had not existed way back then. If they had, good ‘ol Henry wouldn’t have needed a divorce, and England might still be part of the Roman Catholic Church. She decided to ignore Molly’s outburst. “I’ve got another question.”
    “Hit me.” Devon slowly pulled his eyes away from Molly. The corners of his lips were twitching.
      Obviously, he’s thinking it too, but won’t point it out. Handsome and nice…great combo. He just keeps getting better and better! He was looking expectantly now and Rae’s mind snapped back to her question. “You said your dad told you. What about your mom?”
    “She doesn’t know.”
    Rae had been about to hit him with her next question, but hadn’t expected that answer and got sidetracked by it. “Huh?”
    “Dad’s inked. He never told my mom. She just figures it’s a tattoo from his teenage days. He told me the truth when I got the letter to come here.”
    Rae tried to absorb that, wondering which of her parents had a tattoo, or maybe if they hadn’t died, if one of them would have told her about all this and sent her to Guilder three years earlier. The possibilities made her head spin, and it was only the continuation of the conversation that brought her back to the present.
    Andy leaned forward, his voice slightly lower. “Only one parent’s inked. Except in –”
    “It’s almost always the male.” Devon shot Andy a look.
    Rae didn’t miss Devon’s smooth attempt to cut Andy off and prevent him from saying something, and glanced back and forth at both of them. “What’s the matter?” Her voice rose slightly and conversations around their table stopped. She turned her entire body to face Devon. “Why so secretive? Seriously, what could be weirder than what I’ve already found out today?”
    He made no response. Everyone around them sat there with a wide-eyed deer-in-the-headlights look that people got when they were caught by surprise.
    That’s my look! I should be the one looking like that! Something doesn’t add up. Something isn’t being said and I have to know what it is. So she picked what she thought was a random response.“Does this have something to do with my dad?”
    The entire hall became quiet. Everyone stopped eating. Rae felt hundreds of pairs of eyes focus on her. No one said a thing. Most expressions held dislike, others pity, which she couldn’t stand. Devon’s sympathetic face became too much to take. She stood, ready to go back to the dorm and pack her bags. This is bullshit. All of it.
      “Getting a wee bit frustrated, Ms. Kerrigan?” Headmaster Lanford stood at the head of their table. He appeared calm, almost oblivious to the reaction of the other students. His eyes held understanding without pity. “Would you care to join me on a walkabout?”
    Yeah, I have some questions for Mister Combover. “Fine, let’s go,” she snapped, and then hastily added, “Sir.”

Chapter 4
    Unwanted Answers

     

     
    Rae and Lanford walked in silence. Rae grew more and more nervous with each step. She wanted answers, but now that they were outside, away from the expressions of strangers who knew more about her than she did, walking next to the one person who might have all the answers, the idea of asking seemed daunting, even scary. As they passed a sign marked Turret Hall, the headmaster started a seemingly pointless monologue about the campus, pointing at buildings with his