“Gods,” I breathed. “She really was eavesdropping that day.”
“What day?”
I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. She knows my past. She knows my identity. As for the plan... she only knew her part. And yours,” I said, nodding to Ruru.
Ruru rubbed his only thumb over his knife, his face wrinkled with confusion and exhaustion. “But I haven’t run into any trouble on my routes. Everything is still set up and ready to go. Why would she train as hard as she did to protect me if shewas planning to betray us? Why would she save me from the Wolves?”
“To earn our trust,” I said bitterly. “A gamble that clearly paid off.”
Ruru scrambled to his feet. “But she admitted what she’d done, didn’t she? Warned you about tomorrow? Why would she do that if she didn’t... if she didn’t care?”
My heart broke a little more at the crestfallen look on Ruru’s face. And gods, what would Maz think? I’d never wished so hard in all my life for Maz to have been right.
But he’d been wrong about Kiera.
We all had.
“That’s not what matters now,” Nikella told Ruru before she looked back at me. “Did she know about the Den? The warriors? The other bombs?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t tell her. I didn’t want her to try to come along.” Or maybe, deep down, I still hadn’t trusted her.
“But she could’ve told him about Librius and the Temple,” Nikella said. “She knows about Maz’s ship.”
“You’ve been to the Temple. Librius is safe. And she would never hurt Maz.”
“You don’t know that.”
I slammed my fists on the table, making Ruru jump. “Gods damn it, Nikella! I know I made a mistake trusting her. I know she’s the enemy, but all I care about is killing mytrueenemy. And I am not letting a little traitor get in my way.”
Nikella’s eyes darkened. The shadows from the lamp made her scar look deeper than ever. “You could be leading us into a trap.”
“Renwell doesn’t know everything. Hecan’tunless either of you, Maz, Librius, or Melaena also betrayed me.”
Ruru laid his hand on my arm, his brown eyes sincere but still fearful. “Never, Aiden. I swear on my family’s souls.”
Nikella simply stared at me. The tiniest wisp of pity flickered in her eyes. She knew how deeply this betrayal cut. She knew everything I’d been through over the years. She knew I trusted her.
But gods, I needed to unleash the agony stabbing its way through my body. It was devouring every bit of light I had left.
I shoved back in my chair and stood up. My hands shook, and I curled them into fists. “Keep her asleep. Don’t let her out.” I jabbed my finger at Ruru. “Don’t go near her. I don’t want her exploiting you.”
“Where are you going?” Nikella asked, her fingers curling around her staff.
“To see how deeply I was betrayed,” I growled. “Stay here.”
Then I fled. I ran faster than I ever had, desperate to get away from her and her lying mouth. Her beautiful, lying mouth.Gods.
Climbing to the rooftops, I pushed myself harder, not caring for the pain that blossomed every time I landed roughly.
I raced for the Temple, memories rising from their graves, unwilling to stay buried. But this time, they shimmered against newer, livelier memories. Of Kiera. Of our time on the roof.
I checked on Librius. Safe and well. I didn’t tell him why I asked.
Then I pushed on to Melaena’s, my lungs burning, excising the demons that writhed beneath my skin.
I charged into her room as I had the night I’d been searching for Kiera. The night of the heist. Gods, had she told Renwell about that too? But then why had he let us go through with it?
Too many questions. Too many knots to unravel.
