The candles behind me illuminated his face, exposing his darkness with their golden light.
“And what secrets have you kept from me?” he asked.
I knew telling him could change things, especially after seeing his wrath on Fletcher. But I didn’t want these secrets to destroy us. “Remember when I was working undercover at the sex club and someone spiked my drink? Houdini did it. He didn’t know that guy would lock me up in the room or else I’m certain he would have stopped it. Houdini does random things to see what’ll happen. He was teaching me a lesson since I was drinking too much on the job.”
“It sounds like he’ll be the one learning the lesson.”
“Don’t do it, Christian. I didn’t tell you to bait you into killing my maker. This has to stop somewhere.”
“Then why did you never tell me?”
I chuckled. “I guess for the same reason you kept Lenore being the one who buried me a secret. You were trying to protect me, and I was trying to protect you from doing something stupid. Houdini led me here. I followed his owl.”
Christian shot to his feet. “Feck me. We can’t trust he won’t tell someone. Was he the one who broke the chains?”
“I don’t think so. He didn’t seem to know what was going on in here. He just assumed. You’re not very good at being discreet. Even Switch noticed you taking off a lot, but he thought you were having an affair.”
Christian paced toward the chains and stared at them. “You can’t trust your maker. You don’t know what he’s thinking. Perhaps he freed him to sabotage our relationship.”
I stood and joined his side. “I don’t think it was Houdini. Hewantedme to find out what was going on in here. Maybe he saw Fletcher escape and that’s why he came for me today of all days. Or maybe he saw you searching the woods. My gut tells me that he didn’t free Fletcher because… because I think he feels guilty.”
Christian peered over his shoulder at me. “For what?”
“For selling me to Fletcher in the first place. He didn’t know, and when I told him, he seemed insulted. I don’t think Houdini feels any emotion toward me, but I do think he feels ownership. He doesn’t like anyone tampering with his things.”
“He sold you. What did he think would happen?”
“That I would escape. I don’t know. I can’t rationalize his madness. All I know is that this doesn’t feel like Houdini’s work. If you kill my makerandmy Creator, how the hell am I ever going to trust leaving you alone with my dad?”
The humor broke the tension.
Christian turned and swept my hair behind my shoulder. “After what your maker put you through, you don’t want him dead?”
“I won’t see you rotting in jail over something this frivolous.”
“I’ll have you know that him selling you wasn’t frivolous.”
“I know, but it’s past. It’s done. Houdini’s not out to kill me. He just likes fucking with my head.” I turned to Christian and fell into his embrace, nestling my face in his chest. Hearing his strong heartbeat made me feel safe and protected. He didn’t return the hug.
“You’re not vexed? Or… is this goodbye?”
“I’m still mad, but I know why you did it,” I said, staring at the chain.
And I truly did. I had to look past my emotions and think back to when my Creator had fled. Had we found Fletcher, would Viktor have turned him in? Probably. Viktor always did the right thing. Would anyone care what a Creator did to their Learner? Would justice have been served? If Fletcher had never spent a night in jail, that would have been so much worse. Until now, I hadn’t considered the other consequences—of the Mageri finding out about my creation and history of murder. Had he walked away scot-free, I would have become obsessed with killing him, and murdering one’s Creator is illegal and punishable by death. Viktor wouldn’t want anyone unstable working for him.
I shut my eyes. “Now he’s out there.”
Christian leaned back and cupped my head in his hands, his gaze so intense I felt my energy buzz. “On my word, I’ll find him.”
“If he hadn’t escaped, how long would you have kept him?”
“Decades.”
I tilted my head back and gave him a chaste kiss.
He rested his forehead against mine. “Your lips erase any regrets I might have had.”
“Any more secrets?” I asked.
