Rex glowers at me, his face warped with rage as blood drips from his nose. It smells acrid. Gamey. But it’s warm and wet, and for an instant, I pray he lunges for me like he wants to. When heshakes his head and backs away, I taste my disappointment instead.
“What thefuckwas that?” Celine says, her voice cracking.
“He was touching you,” I seethe, looking to Luca for backup.
His face is carefully blank. It stings. Another betrayal.
“I’m serious, Alistair.” Celine crosses her arms over her chest. She’s squaring off against me, positioning herself as my enemy. “You better knock it off with the territorial bullshit or I swear?—”
“You’ll what, Celine?” I snap, rolling through her weaknesses until I pinpoint the quickest way to hurt her as much as she’s hurting me. “Will you take your clothes off for a bunch of strangers? Oh wait, you already do that.”
Her mouth drops open, and she takes a step back. Too late, I realize what I’ve done and reach for her, regret overpowering my anger. She shakes my hand off and wipes every trace of emotion from her face.
Ciprian shoots to his feet. “Watch how you speak to her,” he says. “Don’t take it out on Celine because you’re pissed at me.”
My fury coalesces into a flash point with him at the center, and I lunge. “You’re asking for it,” I snarl. “Telling me to watch my mouth when every word out of yours has been a lie.”
“Woah, woah, woah.” Luca muscles his way between us, wincing when his collarbone gets jostled. “You’re making a scene. We need to go somewhere private.”
“Fuck that,” Celine says. “Alistair is obviously taking me up on my original offer, that’s all.”
My heart sinks, panic turning my blood to ice. The public falling-out she wanted to stage to keep me safe? I don’t want that; I want her. Can’t she see? I made a mistake, but this is his fault. All of this is Ciprian’s fault.
Celine looks up at me, her eyes hard and unforgiving. “I have better things to do during my break than hear a bunch of dicks-with-legs fight over me likea piece of meat.”
Mind at war, I stare at her, undecided. One side urges me to protect my wounded heart; the other demands I drop to my knees and beg her forgiveness.
She takes another step back.
I’m losing her.
It hurts, and I bare my fangs. When she flinches away from me, I try to stop, but the words are already pouring out of me. “Because you’re such a good judge of character, aren’t you, Celine? A magical truth detector who lets a liar into her midst and doesn’t even notice—it’s the start of a bad joke.”
“What are you talking about?” Her wings spread wide and smoke ominously. “You know what, I don’t even care anymore. Get out of here, Alistair. I’m not dealing with this.”
Her rejection is the final straw. The third betrayal I’ve faced tonight, and the last.
I point at Ciprian, fury coating my insides in molten heat.
“He’s enclave,” I say, not bothering to keep my voice down. Gasps echo around us, and I spin to face the crowd. “A demon who feeds on fear with powers greater than most of you could imagine? It should have been obvious... His name is Ciprian Casanell, and his daddy wants him to come home.”
Whispers break out. The onlookers stare at Ciprian, first in surprise, then with growing hostility. Flames curl up from the tips of Celine’s wings, but when she turns to Ciprian, there’s fear in her eyes.
“Is that true?” she asks him, her voice smaller than I’ve ever heard it. “Did you lie to me about everything?”
THIRTY-SEVEN
Unspoken rule of the Fringes #10:
Never let sentimentality cloud reality.
CELINE
He hangs his head, then lifts it and squares his shoulders. “My name is Ciprian Casanell, that’s true, but I didn’t?—”
“Get out of here,” I hiss, the truth of his admission smacking me with every syllable out of his mouth. Emotions assault me on all fronts, and I flinch away from them, bumping into someone, then lurching forward unsteadily.
I trusted Alistair with my body and my friendship, yet he called me a whore in front of dozens of our neighbors. The spiteful man in front of me is unrecognizable to me, and I wish I’d never let him past my guard. I want nothing to do with him.
