Page 64 of Rite of Unity

The woman grinned.“This was my favorite.”

Josh dropped to a knee and tugged his ribbon out of his pocket.

“Your friend looks happy.”

I glanced at Calden.“Yeah.”

His gaze was already on me and I stared, noticing for the first time that his eyes had a subtle ring of amber around them.Not solid black.Here, away from the cameras and the eyes of Centrum, his wide shoulders were relaxed, his full lips soft around the edges.Something about him was easier when it was just the two of us.

He looked past me and I tracked the movement, jumping up.

The folder was out, in plain sight.

I grabbed my journal, tossing it on top.

Electricity sizzled up my back, and I turned, finding Calden right behind me.He leaned toward me, and my breath seized in my chest.

He picked up my journal, flipping through its pages.

I grabbed the folder, sliding it into the drawer, and closing it slowly.

Calden held the journal up, chuckling.“My first night in the center was more than I could have dreamed.”

I darted toward him, throwing a hand over his mouth.“Shhhhh.Why are you shouting?”His eyes widened and I snatched my hand back from his face.“I… I…”

For a moment, he was silent, as stunned by our contact as I had been.

He cleared his throat.“Forgive me.”

I nodded slowly.“Let’s just… watch TV.”

I crossed the room, sitting stiffly in my chair, and he moved, sitting on the bed farther away than he had been before.

I touched my tablet, and Ruth’s statistics played in excruciating detail.

“She’s his number one choice.And while I’d usually say that makes her a shoo-in…”

The man turned to his counterpart, finishing her sentence.“That hasn’t seemed to matter to our Elias has it?”

“You’re right about that.If you asked me to bet on Elias’s final match, my vote wouldn’t be for Sera Cannon.”

The man chuckled.“Who do you think, Kerri?”

“I’m betting on that Elite girl who was hiding in the Middle.”

"Before we move on, we want to take a moment—"

I mashed my tablet, and the screen went black.

Calden reached over and picked it up.

I stared at him as the screen flickered back to life.

“—we lost one of our own.Jonath Pray was a production assistant here at Rite coverage—a promising young man caught in the same radiation storm that claimed one of Elias Hale’s matches during Trial Two.He died in service to bringing you the stories that matter.”

The hosts bowed their heads.Something shifted in Calden’s face.

The tablet lit up, and he handed it to me.