I raise my hands to my neck, but he bats them away to look at it.
Serena rolls her eyes. ‘She’ll survive, I’m sure—’
‘Nobody asked you,’ Marquis says. He rounds on Gideon,who is still lying with his head in the grate.
‘Get up,’ he spits.
Gideon staggers to his feet, his neck sporting the same red welts I can feel rising on my own and his nose pouring with blood. His left eye is swollen and closed.
‘Explain yourself.’
The room falls silent as we stare at Gideon. His jaw tremors and, when he speaks, his voice is barely a whisper.
‘I can’t go back.’
‘Back where?’
‘To my old life.’ Gideon shakes his head. ‘I have to win my category, and she’s …’
He casts a disgusted look in my direction.
‘Your fiercest competition,’ Sophie finishes bitterly.
Of course she’s understood Gideon’s motives before the rest of us have. Sophie the mathematician, always calculating the potential possibilities before they’ve happened. Did she even sleep at all? Or did she lie awake, waiting for someone to start a murder spree?
‘You tried tokillViv because you’re scared she’ll crack the code before you do?’ Marquis says in disbelief.
Why didn’t it occur to me before? Why did I think we’d all just wake up in the morning and carry on as usual, when Wyvernmire has just told us that we must either be rivals or be ruined?
‘Katherine,’ I say slowly, ‘what’s in your hand?’
Katherine hesitates, then opens a trembling fist to reveal a short, thin knife.
‘Were you planning on killing me, too?’ I spit.
‘No,’ Katherine replies. She looks at Gideon. ‘But I knew I might need a means of self-defence.’
God, I really am naive.
The door creaks open and Atlas walks in, still dressed in his suit. He hasn’t been to bed.
‘And where the fuck were you?’ Marquis says.
His accusatory glare is like ice. Atlas takes one look at the knife in Katherine’s hand and the blotches across my neck and launches towards her, grabbing her arm and twisting the weapon from her grip.
The room erupts into shouts as Serena jumps in front of Katherine and Marquis pulls Atlas away.
‘Back off, you idiot!’ Serena shouts. ‘She’s not your girlfriend’s attempted murderer –heis.’
I tense at the wordgirlfriendand see Sophie raise an eyebrow. As Serena points towards Gideon, he backs away slowly, holding his arms out in front of him.
‘Too late to play the knight in shining armour,’ Marquis mutters, shoving Atlas towards me.
‘He tried to kill you?’ Atlas breathes heavily.
‘He’s drunk,’ I say. ‘Not thinking straight.’
I don’t know why I’m defending Gideon, except that I know desperation when I see it. I, too, have done desperate things.
