“I lied,” she sobs. “I’m sorry. I lied. Fuck, it’s not even worth it anymore.”
“You lied about what, exactly?” he asks.
I have never heard his voice like this. It is stripped of everything human.
She keeps her mouth shut, and he presses the blade a fraction deeper.
She screams. “I told her you raped me!”
It feels as though even the music has stopped, or perhaps it is only inside my head.
Something cracks across Markev’s face, but it is gone just as quickly.
I step forward. “Why? Why the hell would you lie about something like that?”
She looks at me, tears streaking her cheeks. “I told him I would.”
I stare at her. “That still doesn’t answer my question. Why?”
“Because he used me,” she sobs. “He needed a fake girlfriend and I agreed. But when I wasn’t useful anymore, he threw me away. And I love him… I wanted something real… so I did what I know best. I tried to manipulate him.”
“Do you understand,” Markev says, “what you’re saying? Do you understand what it means to accuse someone of that?”
She sobs harder.
But all I feel is sick.
Because what the fuck do I do now.
I hate the man with everything in me, or at least I try to.
I hate all of it, and hell, I still feel guilty… guilty because he never raped her.
And I feel fucking stupid for not checking.
For once, I didn’t check.
And I always do.
Always.
And now here it is, the depth of it all laid bare.
Because the answer to why—why didn’t I check—is something no one is ready to confront.
Chapter 20
Octavia
She sobs harder, her shoulders shaking. “I just… I fell in love with him… and…” Her voice breaks.
Markev’s deep laugh fills the space, but it is empty.
“I had quite forgotten your little threat,” he says, almost amused, “because, damn it, I never imagined you would do something this stupid. But I suppose I underestimated you.”
Disgust twists low in my stomach.
“So let me understand this,” I say slowly. “You were not merely sneaking around with someone from a rival academy—and rival is putting it mildly, because if the leader of the Thirteenth Circle had discovered this, I don’t even want to imagine what punishment would have followed—but you were actually in a relationship with the enemy.”
