Текст книги "Deity"

Автор книги: Jennifer L. Armentrout

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Текущая страница: 9 (всего у книги 22 страниц)

He turned around, face impressively blank. “Why would I what, Alexandria?”

My stomach churned as realization set in. My suspicions had been correct. I stared at his elegant hands. “How can you be so certain unless you ordered someone—a Guard—to attack me? Then I guess you’d be fairly certain if that Guard did turn up dead, but you wouldn’t have done that. Because I’m sure the Council would be pretty pissed. You might even lose your position.”

So busy gloating, I didn’t even see him move.

His hand caught the same cheek. The burst of red-hot pain stunned me. It was no pansy hit. The chair went up on two legs before settling back down. Tears stung my eyes.

“You… you can’t do this,” I said, voice hoarse.

Telly grasped my wrist. “I can do as I please.” Telly hauled me to my feet, his fingers bruising my arms as he dragged me across my uncle’s office. He shoved me toward the window overlooking the quad. “Tell me, what do you see out there?”

I blinked back tears, biting down on the fury threatening to boil over. Statues and sand, and beyond that, the ocean rolled and tumbled with rough waves. People were scattered across the campus.

“What do you see, Alexandra?” His grip tightened.

I winced, hating my moment of weakness. “I don’t know. I see people and freaking sand. And the ocean. I see lots of water.”

“See the servants?” He gestured toward the atrium, where a cluster of them stood waiting for orders from their Master. “I own them. I own all of them.”

The muscles in my body locked up. I couldn’t pull my gaze from them.

Telly leaned in, his breath hot in my ear. “Let me tell you a little secret about the true nature of your other half’s trip to the Catskills. He’s been brought in to deal with any servant who is off the elixir and is refusing to submit. Did you know that?”

“Deal with them?”

“Take some of that cleverness from your mouth and apply it. I’m sure you can figure it out.”

I could figure it out, but I couldn’t believe it. There was a difference between those two things. Because I understood that Telly was claiming that Seth would take down any half-blood who was causing problems, but Seth wouldn’t actually agree to something like that. And I also knew that Telly was telling me this to rattle me.

It was working.

“I have something else I want to tell you,” Telly said. “I do have a favorite of all the servants, you see. One I personally requested many years ago. Did you know I knew your mother and father?”

I closed my eyes.

“What, Alexandria? Has someone already let that little bird out of the cage?” He let go of my wrist, chuckling. “To think your beautiful mother had tainted herself in that way, to mix with a half-blood. Did they really think they’d get away with it? And do you really think Lucian has forgotten the disgrace she placed upon his head?”

Dad. Daddy. Father. All titles which hadn’t really meant anything until I read Laadan’s letter. But now they meant everything.

“I know he must mean nothing to you,” Telly continued. “You’ve never known him, but I do know that whoever covered up what you did must mean a lot to you. And what do they say? Like father, like daughter?”

Desperation washed away any relief I felt. Telly wasn’t going to use my father against me. He was just going to use Aiden.

Telly left me by the window, returning to the center of the room. “This is your last chance. I will leave the day after tomorrow, before dawn, and if you haven’t turned yourself in by then, there will be no more chances. This could end easily.”

I didn’t even feel the throbbing in my face anymore.

Telly smiled, reveling in my silence. “Admit to killing the Guard, and I won’t push on…” his lip curled, “who covered it up. And trust me, I will find out. There are only a few I have noticed who have taken any interest in you, other than the First. What?” He laughed. “Did you think I hadn’t been paying attention?”

Air rushed from my lungs so quickly I felt dizzy.

“Let’s see.” Telly tapped his chin. “There is your uncle, who I think cares for you far more than he lets on. He was in New York. Then there is that one Sentinel—the one who found you that night in the maze. Leon? Then there is the one who graciously offered to train you. I do believe that would be St. Delphi. And then there is Laadan. All of them are suspects, and I will ensure that all of them suffer. As the Head Minister, I can revoke Marcus’ position. I can even remove Lucian. I can file charges against the rest. With all the unrest and recent incidents, it would be all too easy.”

A lump of horror and frustration formed in my throat. Tears built behind my eyes at the same moment I wanted to smash Telly’s head in.

“You’ll go into servitude and you will go on the elixir. If you refuse, well, things will end badly.”

My hands curled into fists. “You’re… revolting.”

Telly started toward me, his hand streaking out to hit me again.

I caught his wrist, my eyes meeting his and holding. “I’ve been hit enough, thank you.”

A commotion from the hallway caught Telly’s attention and he pulled his wrist free. Marcus’ voice rang loud, demanding entry to his office. Telly raised a brow at me. “You have until dawn on Friday.”

The walls closed in.

Telly smirked as Marcus’ demands grew louder. Neither of us spoke during those moments.

“Why do you hate me so much?” I asked finally.

“I don’t hate you, Alexandria. I hate what you are”

CHAPTER 13

THAT WAS WHAT THIS HAD COME DOWN TO—BECAUSE I was an Apollyon, because I’ll turn Seth into a God Killer. And I knew then, beyond a doubt, that Telly was a member of the Order. In his mind, he was just protecting the gods from a threat, and he saw no wrong in what he did.

The doors swung open as I turned back to the window, struggling for control.

“What is going on in here?” Marcus demanded.

“I had some… unanswered concerns about the night Alexandria left the Council,” Telly replied. “At first she was not very cooperative when it came to the questions, but I do believe we worked out an understanding. After that, she was surprisingly helpful.”

Yeah, he worked it out on my face.

I wondered how quickly I could rip one of those daggers off Marcus’ wall and plunge it into Telly’s eye before his Guards could react. The tension in the room escalated, waves rippling out in every direction.

“And why was I not involved in this questioning? Or better yet, why couldn’t this wait until Lucian’s return?” Marcus said evenly, but I recognized the edge to his voice. Gods knew I’d been on the receiving of it countless times. “He is her guardian and should have been present.”

Telly tsked softly. “This wasn’t a formal questioning or sanctioned by the Council. I had a few concerns I needed to clear up. Therefore I had no need for Lucian’s or your presence. That is, beside the fact that I am the Head Minister and do not need your permission.”

He’d effectively put Marcus in his place.

“Alexandria,” called Telly. “Please do not forget what we’ve discussed.”

I didn’t respond, because I was still weighing whether or not I could stab him before the Guards took me down.

Head Minister Telly excused himself then, giving out pleasantries in such a calm manner I almost found it hard to believe he’d just pulled the world out from underneath my feet.

“Alexandria?” Marcus’ voice broke the silence. “What did he want to discuss with you?”

“He had questions about what happened at the Council.” My voice was unnaturally thick. “That’s all.”

“Alex?” Aiden said, and my heart dropped all the way to my toes. Of course, he was here. “What happened?”

Facing them, I used my hair to shield my stinging cheek from them and kept my gaze plastered to the carpet. “Apparently, I have a bad attitude. We had to work through that.”

Aiden was suddenly in front of me, tipping my chin back. My hair slid off my cheek. Rage blasted off him, swallowing up the air like a black hole of fury.

“He did this?” His voice was so low I barely heard him.

Unable to answer, I looked away.

“This is unacceptable.” Aiden whirled on Marcus. “He cannot do this. She’s a girl.”

Sometimes Aiden forgot that I was also a half-blood, which pretty much zeroed out the whole “not hitting girls” thing. Like with Jackson. Like with most pure-bloods. Our society—our rules and how we were treated—it sucked. There were no words for it.

And at once, a thousand questions rose up, but one stood out. How could I continue to be a part of this world? Being a Sentinel, in a way, was supporting the social structure, basically saying that I was okay with this, and I wasn’t. I hated it.

Shaking my head, I pushed those thoughts out of my head for now. “He’s the Head Dick. He can do whatever he wants, right?”

Marcus looked thunderstruck as he continued to stare at me. Was he really that surprised by Telly’s violence? If that was the case, he’d just lost some intelligence points. He turned to Leon. “She was supposed to go nowhere by herself. Why was Telly able to reach her?”

“She was in class,” Leon responded. “Linard was waiting for her to leave. And no one expected Telly to be here. Not with everything that is happening in New York.”

Marcus cut a dangerous look at Linard. “If you have to sit in class with her, then do it.”

“It’s not his fault,” I said. “No one can watch me every second of the day.”

Aiden cursed. “Is that all you’ll do? She is your niece, Marcus. He hit your nieceand that’s your answer?”

Marcus’ eyes deepened to a bright green. “I am well aware of the fact that she is my niece, Aiden. And do not think for one second that I found any of this,” he threw his hand toward me, “acceptable. I will contact the Council immediately. I do not care that she is a half-blood. Telly has no right.”

I shifted my weight. “The Council is going to care? Seriously? You guys beat the crap out of servants all the time. Why would I be any different?”

“You are not a servant,” Marcus said, storming to his desk.

“Does that make it okay?” I shouted, my hands curling into fists. “It’s okay to beat servants because of their blood? And it’s not okay because I have half—” I cut myself off before I revealed too much. All eyes were on me.

Behind his desk, Marcus took a deep breath and briefly closed his eyes. “Are you okay, Alexandria?”

“I’m just peachy.”

Aiden took my arm. “I’m taking her to the clinic.”

I pulled my arm free. “I’ll be fine.”

“He hityou,” Aiden seethed, eyes flashing.

“And it will just bruise, okay? That’s not the problem.” I needed to be out of this room, away from all of them. I needed to think. “I just want to go back to my room.”

Marcus froze with the phone halfway to his ear. “Aiden, make sure she makes it back to her room. And I want her to stay there until we find out what Telly is up to or until he leaves. I will contact Lucian and the rest of the Council,” Marcus said, and his gaze found Aiden’s again. “I mean it. She is not to leave the room.”

I was too busy going over everything that had happened to care about Marcus sentencing me to my dorm. And if Lucian found out about what’d happened, then that meant Seth would, too. At least there was one bright lining in the cloud of crud. If Seth were here, he’d probably kill Telly.

Marcus stopped me at the door. “Alexandria?”

I turned around, hoping he’d make this fast. Bitch me out for antagonizing Telly, tell me not to do again, and warn me about my bad behavior.

He met my stare. “I am sorry that I was not here to stop him. This will not happen again.”

My uncle had an alien in him. I blinked slowly. Before I could say anything, he went back to his phone call. Sort of stunned, I let Aiden guide me out of the office and down the hall.

Once the door in the stairwell closed behind us, Aiden blocked the stairs. “I want to know what happened.”

“I just want to go back to my room.”

“I’m not asking, Alex.”

I didn’t answer, and finally Aiden turned around stiffly and went down the stairs. I followed behind him slowly. Classes were still in session, so the stairwell and the first floor lobby were virtually empty with the exception of some Guards and Instructors. We walked back to my dorm in silence, but I knew he wasn’t going to let this go. Aiden was just biding his time, so I wasn’t entirely surprised when he followed me into my room, closing the door behind him.

I dropped my bag and ran my hands through my hair. “Aiden.”

He grasped my chin like he’d done in Marcus’ office, tilting my head to the side. His jaw tightened. “How did this happen?”

How bad did it look? “I guess I didn’t respond correctly after the first time.”

“He hit you twice?”

Embarrassed, I pulled away and sat on the couch. I was trained to fight and defend myself. I’d walked away from daimon battles with scratches. This whole situation made me feel weak and helpless.

“You shouldn’t be here,” I said finally. “I know Marcus said to make sure I stayed in my room, but it shouldn’t be you.”

Aiden stood in front of the small coffee table, hands on his hips. His posture reminded me so much of our training sessions—the one he got when he knew I was going to push back on something. He was digging in for the long haul. “Why?”

I laughed and then winced. “You shouldn’t be around me. I think Telly has someone watching me—us.”

There wasn’t an ounce of panic in those silver eyes. “You need to tell me what happened, Alex. Don’t even think about lying to me. I’ll know.”

Closing my eyes, I shook my head. “I don’t know if I can.”

I heard Aiden move around the table and sit on its edge in front of me. His hand pressed against my other cheek. “You can tell me anything. You know that. I will help you always. How can you doubt that?”

“I don’t doubt that.” I opened my eyes, ashamed to find they felt damp.

Confusion flickered across his face. “Then why can’t you tell me?”

“Because… because I don’t want you to worry.”

Aiden frowned. “You’re always thinking about someone else when you should be more concerned about yourself.”

I snorted. “That’s so not true. I’ve been really self-centric lately.”

He laughed softly, but when the rich sound faded, so did his brief smile. “Alex, talk to me.”

The terror and panic returned. I’m not sure they’d ever really left. The words just came out. “Telly knows.”

A slight narrowing of his eyes was his only reaction. “How much?”

“He knows I killed a pure-blood,” I whispered. “And he knows either Seth or a pure covered it up.”

Aiden said nothing.

I really started to freak out. “He’s definitely part of the Order, and I think he’s the one who sent the Guard to kill me. It’s the only way he could know unless the compulsion—”

“The compulsion hasn’t faded.” Aiden dragged his hand over his head. Dark waves tumbled through his fingers. “We would know. I’d be arrested by now.”

“Then the only way he would know is if he sent the Guard to kill me.”

Aiden clasped the back of his neck. “Are you sure he knows?”

I laughed harshly as I gestured at my cheek. “He did this when I wouldn’t admit to it.”

The silver in his eyes burned. “I want to kill him.”

“Me too, but that’s not really going to help things.”

He flashed me a wild smile. “But it would make us feel better.”

“Damn, you’ve gotten dark. Funny, but dark.”

Aiden shook his head. “What did he say, exactly?”

I told him the questions Telly had asked. “You know, the only good thing about this is that he didn’t think using my father had any pull on me. But he said that, if I turn myself in, he wouldn’t push to find the pure who covered for me. If I didn’t tell him, then he would go after every pure who seems to tolerate me: you, Laadan, Leon, even Marcus. I guess he doesn’t think he can get Seth or he’s afraid of him.”

“Alex—”

“I don’t know what to do.” I pushed off the couch, sidestepping him. I prowled the length of the small living room, feeling caged. I stopped, my back to Aiden. “I’m screwed, you know that, right?”

“Alex, we’ll think of something.” I felt him come up behind me. “This isn’t the end. There are always options.”

“Options?” I crossed my arms. “There were options when the Guard tried to kill me, and I chose the wrong one. I made a huge mistake, Aiden. I can’t fix that. And you know what? I don’t even think he cares about that Guard.”

“I know,” he replied softly. “I think he sent that Guard knowing that you’d be able to defend yourself, that you would probably even kill the Guard. It makes sense.”

I turned around. “It does?”

He nodded, eyes narrowing. “It’s the perfect set-up, Alex. Telly sends the Guard to kill you, knowing there would be a good chance that you’d fight back and kill the Guard out of self-defense.”

“And self-defense means nothing in this world.”

“Exactly. So Telly would have you then. No one could stop him from having you killed or at least placing you into servitude. He puts you on the elixir and you don’t Awaken. Problem solved, except Telly didn’t expect a pure to use compulsion and cover it up for you.”

I nodded. “But he now knows that someone did.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Aiden said. “He may know but he has no evidence without incriminating himself. Telly may be the Head Minister, but he does not wield the kind of power where he can indiscriminately go after pure-bloods. He can accuse us all he wants, but he can’t do anything without evidence.”

A tiny seedling of hope rooted in my chest. “He has a lot of power, Aiden. He has the Order, too, and gods know how many people belong to it.”

“It doesn’t matter, Alex.” Aiden placed gentle, strong hands on my shoulders. “All he has right now is fear. He thinks he can scare you into admitting the truth. He’s using that fear against you.”

“But what if he does go after everyone? What about you?”

Aiden smiled. “He can, but he’s not going to get anywhere with it. And when you don’t admit to anything, then he’ll go back to New York. And we’ll be ready if he tries something again. This isn’t the end.”

I nodded again.

Aiden looked me straight in the eyes. “I want you to promise me that you won’t do anything stupid, Alex. Promise me that you won’t turn yourself in.”

“Why does everyone think I’m always going to do something stupid?”

His look said he knew better. “Knee-jerk reaction, Alex. I think we’ve covered that.”

I sighed. “I won’t do anything reckless, Aiden.”

Aiden stared at me for a moment, then nodded. Instead of relaxing like I thought he would, he seemed to grow more tense. He exhaled roughly and then nodded once again. Whatever he was thinking, I knew it wasn’t good.

And when his steely gaze met mine, I knew there was a good chance he didn’t believe any of the promises I’d made.

CHAPTER 14

LATER THAT EVENING, I HELD THE CELL PHONE TWO feet from my head and still felt like Seth was yelling in my ear.

“I’m going to kill him!”

“Yeah, you’re not the first one to say that.” I climbed off the couch, scowling at the door. I didn’t need to check to know that Leon stood right outside my room. Thank the gods most of the kids were gone, because having a personal Sentinel guard would make me an even bigger freak. “And it’s pretty sad when I’m the voice of reason.”

“What else do you suggest?” he asked. “He’s the Head Minister, Alex. It’s obvious that he ordered that Guard to attack you.”

“Yeah.” I headed to my bathroom, turning my head to the side. The left side of my cheek was red and slightly swollen. A bit of blue lined my jaw. Jackson had done worse. Telly hit like a girl. I started to smile. “But Aiden said that he doesn’t—”

“Aiden’s an idiot.”

I rolled my eyes. “Anyway, why didn’t you answer the phone last night?”

“Are you jealous?”

“What? No. It was just weird.”

Seth laughed. “I was busy and it was too late by the time I had a chance to call you. Did you miss me or something?”

Not really. I pushed away from the mirror and went into the bedroom. “Seth, what are you really doing up there?”

“I already told you.” Static filled the line for a few seconds. “Anyway, is that really important right now? You should be worried about Telly.”

I sat on the edge of the bed. “Telly said that you were there to deal with the halfs who were causing problems and weren’t responding to the elixir. Is that true?”

Silence.

Knots started to form in my stomach. “Seth.”

He sighed into the phone. “Alex, that isn’t the problem right now. Telly is.”

“I know that, but I need to know what you’re doing up there.” I plucked at a loose thread in the bedspread. “My dad… I know he wasn’t responding to the—”

“I haven’t even seen your father, Alex. Granted, I really don’t know what he looks like and Laadan isn’t telling. He could be here. He could be gone.”

Anger and frustration rushed to the surface. “What are you doing to the halfs who aren’t responding to the elixir?”

A sound of exasperation traveled through the phone. “What I’ve been ordered to do by the Council, Alex. Take care of them.”

Blood froze in my veins. “What do you mean by ‘take care of them’?”

“Alex, that isn’t important. Look, they’re just half-bloods—”

“What the hell do you think we are?” I stood and started pacing. Again. “We are half-bloods, too, Seth.”

“No,” he replied evenly. “We are the Apollyons.”

“Gods, I wish you were in front of me.”

“I knew you missed me,” Seth said. I could hear his smile.

“No. If you were in front of me, I’d kick you in your junk, Seth. You cannot be okay with… taking careof those halfs! Wrong doesn’t even sum up what that is. It’s disgusting—revolting.”

“I’m not killinganyone, Alex. Gods, what do you really think of me?”

“Oh.” I stopped, feeling my cheeks turn red.

A couple of moments passed in silence. It sounded like Seth was walking somewhere fast. “I’d like to be in your head for just one hour,” he laughed. “No. Forget that. I don’t. You’d kill my self-confidence.”

“Seth—”

“Let’s focus on the important stuff here, which is Telly. I don’t believe he doesn’t have a damn thing. He wouldn’t hold that threat of going after the pure responsible for the compulsion without having something.”

Fear spiked. “You seriously think he has something?”

“Telly is a lot of things, but he isn’t stupid. He waited until he knew that neither Lucian nor I were anywhere near you before he made his move. I wouldn’t be surprised if Telly didn’t screw with the elixir weeks ago as a fallback plan. He needed a distraction and he got one. And Aiden isn’t stupid, either,” he said. “He’s telling you what you need to hear to stop you from doing something stupid.”

Feeling dizzy, I sat back down. “Shit.”

“Listen to me, Alex. None of them—your uncle or Aiden—is important. Stay away from Telly. Let him act on his threat, whether he has proof or not.”

“What?” I stared at the phone as if he could somehow see me, which was kind of dumb. “They’re important to me, Seth.”

“No. Aiden is important to you. In reality, you could care less about the rest,” he corrected.

“That’s not true!”

Seth laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Alex, you’re a terrible liar.”

What the hell? Did everyone think I was prone to acts of stupidity anda terrible liar? But I wasn’t lying. Laadan and Marcus were important to me. Even Leon, though he was kind of weird.

I took a deep breath. “So, you think Telly does have something?”

“I don’t think Telly would make idle threats and hope you fall for them. Look at all that he’s done so far.”

I dropped my head into my open palm. “Seth, I can’t let him go after them.”

“You can and you will. They. Are. Not. Important. You are. We are.”

“I hate it when you say things like that,” I seethed.

“Because it’s true, Alex. Why? Because once you Awaken, we can change things.” Seth paused and then his voice lowered. “You have no idea what the majority of the Council wants done to the half-bloods up here. Luckily, my presence seems to be keeping most of them in line, but they do want them killed, Alex. They see the half-bloods as a problem that they don’t have the time or manpower to deal with. Especially now that the daimons have no qualms about attacking the Covenants.”

“I thought you didn’t care about the half-bloods.” I lifted my head and stared at the blank wall across from the bed.

“Not losing sleep over their crappy lives and being okay with exterminating them are two different things, Alex.”

“Gods, Seth.” I shook my head. “Sometimes I don’t even know you.”

“You never tried to,” he said, without a trace of anger. “And it really doesn’t matter right now. All that matters is that you stay safe. Look, I got to go. Just stay in your room, at least until Telly leaves. I know he has to be back here by Friday because they are having a session.”

“All right,” I said. “Seth?”

“What?”

I bit my lip, having no idea what I wanted to say to him. There was just so much, and none of it was anything I was willing to get into right now. “Nothing. I’ll…I’ll talk to you later.”

Seth hung up, without making me promise to stay out of trouble. I think he knew my word was just as good as his.

The next twenty-four hours crept by painfully slowly. I wasn’t allowed to leave my room. Food was brought to me by one of my babysitters. Besides them, I had no visitors. Bored out of my mind, I cleaned my bathroom and started to rearrange my closet, which ended with clothes strewn across the floor.

There was a moment when panic punched a hole through my chest. Was I making the right decision by not turning myself in?

I tried calling Seth a few times but that was a total bust. He eventually called back just after I’d changed for bed. We didn’t talk for long or about anything important. I think he was just surprised that I was still in my dorm and hadn’t done anything dumb yet.

It took hours of tossing and turning to drift off to sleep. But I didn’t stay asleep for long. I woke up while it was still dark, the comforter twisted around my legs.

I watched slivers of light slice across the ceiling, disappearing when the moon dipped behind a cloud outside my window. My brain immediately kicked into hyper drive, replaying everything that had happened with Telly, then with Aiden and Seth. What if Seth had been right and Telly had a way of finding out that it was Aiden? Or even if he didn’t, what if he did go after him? And it wasn’t just Aiden I cared about. What would it say about me if I let others be harmed so I skated through until the next time? Because there would be a next time—I knew it. And who would risk their future and their life then?

It wasn’t right or fair.

Sitting up, I swung my legs off the bed and stood. Cool air spread goosebumps over my bare legs. I grabbed a long, chunky sweater off the corner of my bed and slipped it over my tank top. Creeping to the window, I pried the blinds apart and peered outside. I couldn’t see anything in the darkness and I wasn’t even sure what I was looking for.

“What am I doing?” I asked myself.

“Absolutely nothing if I have anything to do with it.”

Shrieking, I dropped the blinds and spun around. Heart pounding, I squinted at the tall outline taking up the entire doorway to my bedroom. Once I recognized who it was, it did nothing to calm my racing heart. “Holy daimon babies! You gave me a heart attack.”

Aiden stepped forward, folding his arms. “Sorry about that.”

I pulled the sweater closer, staring at him. “What are you doing in my dorm?”

“You have a problem with guys in your dorm now?”

“Ha. Ha.” I hurried over to my bedside table and flipped on the lamp. A soft glow filled the room. “Actually, I never invited Seth in here. He just kind of made himself at home.”

A ghost of a smile appeared on his face. As always, he was in his Sentinel garb. Then it struck me. My mouth dropped open.

“You’re working, aren’t you?” I demanded.

“Well, there was a good chance that you’d try to sneak out and turn yourself in before Telly could leave in the morning. We were taking precautions just in case you did.”

“We?” I sputtered. “Is anyone else in here?”

“No, but Leon was in right after you fell asleep. Linard is patrolling the outside.” He paused. “I just switched shifts with Leon. I’m sorry if I woke you.”

I stared at him, dumbfounded. “You guys have been switching off in here while I slept? Last night, too?”

He nodded. “Thankfully, Marcus suggested the idea. Otherwise I have a feeling Linard would’ve been chasing you across the quad and stopping you before you ran off.”

“I’m not stupid.” My fingers curled around the edges of my sweater. “Do you really think I’d just up and go turn myself in to Telly in the middle of the night?”

He cocked his head to the side. “This is coming from the girl who once snuck out of the Covenant to find a daimon.”

Touché. “Whatever. I wasn’t planning to do anything like that again.”

“You weren’t?”

I shook my head. There had been a part of me that had been considering it. “I couldn’t sleep. There’s a lot going on in my head.”

“That’s understandable.” His eyes drifted over me, settling on my cheek. “How is it?”

I tipped my head, shielding my face. “It’s fine.”

He looked away a moment, then his gaze swung back to me. “You’ve been through worse, I know, but still. You should’ve never had to deal with what you did… or with Jackson. Any of this really.”

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing—I’m just rambling.” Aiden’s shoulders relaxed as he glanced around the room. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been in here.”

I followed his gaze, which had landed on the bed. A warm flush went from my hair to the tips of my toes. A dozen or so vivid images danced in front of my eyes—all of them completely wrong considering everything that was going on.

“It was your first day back here,” he said, and a small grin appeared. “There were clothes on the floor then, too.”

Surprised, I focused on him—the real, completely clothed Aiden. Of course, he’d been in my living room area, but he was right. He hadn’t ventured any further than the couch. “You remember that?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I was lecturing you.”

“After I pulled Lea out of her chair by her hair.”

Aiden laughed and the sound warmed me. “You finally admit to it.”

“She kind of deserved it then.” I bit my lip as he looked up, his gaze meeting mine. What was he thinking right now? I sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m not going to do anything, even though I should. You don’t have to stay in here.”

Aiden was silent a couple of moments, then he made his way to where I was sitting and sat beside me. The air in the room suddenly got heavier, the bed smaller. The last time we’d been on a bed—and I’d been this close to being undressed—had been the night in his cabin. Impossibly, I grew warmer at the memory, and nervous—a lot more nervous. I should’ve stayed asleep.