Because that was what I believed.
Instead, he shook his head, his throat making a sound that might’ve been a laugh. “You couldn’t control your powers. That’s not murder, Hazel. That’s a tragic accident.”
“Nope. That’s you trying to get me to escape responsibility, something you Kings are particularly skilled at. I can’t let myself off that easy.”Shit.My words wavered. I stared at my hands so I wouldn’t have to keep Trey’s eye contact. “You want to know the truth? In the moment, Iwantedthem to die.”
“So what?”
“That’ssick. That’s murder. I’m a murderer. Talking circles around it won’t make it any less true.”
“You’re determined to take the blame for that night, for all of it?” Trey’s voice took on a dangerous edge. “Even for what they did to you.”
“I’m not ‘determined’ to do anything, except to get your ass out of this hellhole they dare call a school. Let’s talk about that instead, because as far as I’m concerned the topic of the fire is well and truly burned out.”
I didn’t even apologize for the terrible pun.
“Fine.” But Trey didn’t talk. He stared at the wall, his face frozen in deep thought. Above my head, a clock ticked away the seconds.Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
Scritch-scritch-scritch.
Tick-tock-tick.
From inside the walls, the faint scratch of rats feet against wood and stone. I hadn’t heard them all night and now here they were, reassuring me that I’d done the right thing.Don’t let Trey get too close to you. Don’t let any of the Kings get close. Now that you know what’s happened, you can get them out of here, but to do that will mean you lose them forever. You might as well practice saying goodbye now—
“It’s not fair.”
Trey’s words thudded inside my head, each one stinging like a punch from one of my mother’s dead-end boyfriends.
“What’s not fair?”
“I finally have something in my life that’s good. I met this amazing girl. She doesn’t stand on fucking pretenses. Hell, half the time I’m convinced she was sent from the god himself to torture me. She constantly surprises me, but the good kind of surprises – the kind I’m not used to. I keep thinking that eventually she’ll wake up to the piece-of-shit I really am and kick me to the curb. But for some reason, she stays, and she looks at me in this way that makes me feel as if I must’ve done something right. This girl is the brightest spark in all my darkness, but she’s stuck in the past. She forgives everyone else for their shitty decisions and half-cocked impulses. She forgives her bullies for all the horrible shit they did to her, but she won’t forgive herself. She doesn’t believe she deserves forgiveness. But that’s not true. It can’t be true. If she can’t forgive herself, then how the hell is there any hope for me?” Trey’s icicle eyes stabbed me, twisting deep into my skin. “We’re exactly the same, Hazy. You believe I’m worth saving. I believe you’re worth saving. And one way or another, I’m going to make you see it for yourself.”
Before I could throw something at his sentimental ass, Trey Bloomberg rose from his seat, stalked to the door, flung it open and stalked out. It slammed behind him, theCRACKof wood splintering imperceptible over the fracturing of my wounded heart.
Chapter Eleven
Sleep must’ve found me in Ayaz’s arms. One moment, I was curled up beside him, carefully avoiding touching his healing flesh as I watched his chest rise and fall, the next I lay on a cold stone floor. A familiar, unearthly pulse tingled the ends of my fingers where they touched the stone.
As I sat up, a wave of hatred rolled over me, crawling over my skin and standing every hair on end.
The god is in the house.
By way of greeting, he offered up a cacophony of screams that echoed between my ears. Torches flared to life along the walls. As my eyes adjusted to the burst of light, I saw the platform in front of me, the chains hanging loose and the doors flung open. The god remained inside, but his presence seemed… closer. Lighter. Almost… jovial.
I have not feasted for many days. It has been difficult, for I have been offered delicious fruits of your race. My grip on the waking world grows weaker. But I made you a promise, and I am a truth-teller.
He means Greg and Zehra.They’re still safe, no thanks to Ms. West.I folded my arms across my chest in the hopes I could hide the pounding of my heart. “Good. Thank you for keeping your end of our bargain. I am working on keeping mine. I gotta ask, though. What’s the deal with the ugly-ass obelisk? If you’re so weak, how could you make that giant thing rise up?”
It spoke little of my self-preservation skills that I’d just called the god’s architectural statement ‘ugly-ass.’ The god turned in his prison, sending a fresh wave of nausea-inducing horror from the open trapdoor. A sound like blood bubbling from a wound reached my ears –is that… laughter?
Did the god find thisamusing?
“What?” I demanded. “Tell me.”
It is a figment from a time long past, that had almost been forgotten even by me. It was hidden, but your power revealed it.
I sighed.I guess we’re having another incomprehensible conversation.“Fine, so it’s my fault, as usual. What is the pillar?”
