Will’s jaw tightened, his gray eyes blazing. ‘You are not somethingto be tamed!’
‘Not if it ruins your godsdamn agenda,’ she spat back, chest heaving. ‘I suppose you would fail Kakos if I couldn’t fully wield my power for them, wouldn’t you?’
Anger twisted Will’s features, a snarl erupting from him. ‘You can’t be serious.’
‘Why else would you keep these letters from me?’ she demanded. ‘Why else would you keepeverythingfrom me?’
‘Gods, if you’d justlisten—’
‘Why? You’ve never said one honest thing in your godsdamn life!’ Something in her chest was shattering, and she wasn’t sure she would survive the pain of it.
‘Youareserious, aren’t you?’ Will breathed as he straightened. The knife dropped to his side. ‘You’d look for any reason to condemn me.’
The bitterness in his voice twisted her anger into something clear and vicious and so unexpected that she felt her face flush as she took a step toward him. He didn’t raise his knife.
‘Hate me all you want,’ Aya seethed, ‘but you know as well as I do that you’d make the perfect mole.’
His teeth flashed as his arms flung wide. ‘I have beennothingbut loyal!’
‘Loyal?Loyal?’ She could feel the heat of his angerradiating off his body as she took another step toward him. ‘You knew about my power for ages and didn’t tell a soul. You tricked me into leaving Tova in that prison to get me out of Tala. You’ve kept me in the dark for weeks, and for what?’
‘They wanted your power,’ Will thundered. ‘They havealwayswanted your power! I was trying to keep you safe.’
Aya stilled, his words washing over her, heavy and unrelenting. Her knife-hand shook as she stared at him. ‘They didn’t know about my power. You’re lying,’ she breathed.
Will shook his head. ‘I’m not. And you cannot keep punishing me,’ he rasped. ‘You cannot keep casting me as the villain in your story. You have no idea what I’ve done. You have no fucking clue. You’re so determined to see me as a monster, as the godsdamn enemy, that you won’t open your eyes.’
‘You’re lying,’ Aya bit out as she grabbed his shirt and tugged him into her, her blade kissing the skin of his throat.
Will didn’t move. Didn’t raise his blade. He kept his eyes on her, anger and disappointment swirling in his irises. ‘This is where we always end up, isn’t it, Aya love,’ he breathed. ‘You with a knife to my throat.’
He kept still, his knife hanging by his side.
‘Kill me, or get out.’ His command was soft and vicious.
Aya stayed rooted to the spot, her chin raised, hand shaking.
She should do it. She should take this blade and drag it across his godsdamn throat.
Her eyes blurred with tears, and she hated them almost as much as she hated that he had been the one to put them there.
Slowly, her grip loosened on his shirt.
‘That’s what I thought,’ Will muttered as he took a step back. He stared at her for a moment, his hair disheveled, facepained. ‘I’ve spent years trying to protect you. And where has it gotten me, Aya?’
His tossed the knife on the ground between them, the clatter of the blade deafening in the silence.
‘It’s gotten me nowhere.’
Her blood went cold as he turned his back on her and walked toward the bedroom.
‘I mean it. Get out.’
The bedroom door snapped shut, the lock clicking behind him in a loud and final sound that left Aya utterly alone.
58
Aya didn’t bother to pick the lock. She merely kicked the door to Natali’s dormitory open. She hadn’t felt a lick of guilt when she’d persuaded the young Saj in the library to tell her where they slept. And she didn’t feel one now, not even as Natali bolted from where they sat at their desk, clearly startled.
