“Okay,” I finally agree. “I get it. Can I ask for just one more favor, though? I need the Offering papers from Sable Briarwick. Just like these.”
“Why?”
I smile. “Because I’m sentimental.”
He searches for a moment before passing them over to me, clearly not believing a word I said.
“Have a good day, Mr. Morwen,” he says as I finally leave.
CHAPTER 43
ORION
My knucklesstill hurt from punching my brother, and when someone knocks on my door, my heart jumps thinking it might be him coming to confront me about it. My whole life, I’ve wanted nothing more than to be the inseparable best friends I thought we were destined to be. I love myself, and a brother who looked just like me felt like a gilded gift. Now it feels like a torture exercise. Why the hell do I have to miss him so much when he tried to take everything from me?
Worst of all, everyone is softening to him, including the man standing behind the door with a pissed-off look on his face. His eyebrows are pushed together, his fists clenched. I have to say, I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen Lex this pissed.
“Good afternoon, Lex. Someone get in the way of you and your corpses?”
He doesn’t look amused or like he even heard me. He pushes past me into my room, and I follow him, shutting the door.
“Cillian,” he says, not bothering to explain further.
“What about him?” I ask, pretending to be bored, but in reality, I hate that grimy little bastard. We’ve all been waiting for Lex to see what a sneaky, jealous fuck he is.
“He brought Arabella to the Offering room, and he signed off on it. It’syourfault she’s here to begin with, and you’re going to help me fix it.”
He hands me some papers that show the sequence of events leading up to Arabella being dropped off in our room. My stomach roils with anger and guilt, but it doesn’t tell us more than what I already knew. Cillian’s a creep, and he can’t be trusted. He is also the college’s bitch, though, so his doing college business isn’t exactly unheard of.
“He pretended he didn’t knowanythinglast time I worked with him, and I don’t like how these dates overlap.”
“There’s only one way to find out,” I say.
“Ask him,” Lex fills in for me.
“I was going to say beat the fuck out of him, but sure, we can start there if it makes you feel better.”
“I’m not actually sure what’s going to make me feel better,” he says, his concern so clear on his face. I almost feel bad for him, but that’s what happens when you start to trust those you pity. They always turn on you.
“Come on, time to see what he knows. You’ve got to lead the way, though. I don’t have a single clue where to find that creep when he’s not following you around like an angry shadow.”
“He’s probably in his room,” he says, and I gesture for him to lead the way.
We leave my room, passing through the hall quickly. We use one of the hidden passages that cuts through the university, and we pop out in an area that I’m not particularly familiar with, the dorms. Here, there are lines of rooms where multiple people live, as evidenced by the bunk beds in some of them. Communal areas pop up now and then, and people gather there, talking and laughing. They all look at us as we pass. Obviously, we don’t belong here.
“Nice to see you again, Soren,” one of the girls says, and I turn around, ready to start a fight. I won’t punch a girl, but I can be just as catty when I want to.
“He’s not Soren, he’s Orion,” another one of them corrects.
“So what was up with your brother then?” the original girl continues. Lex and I still haven’t responded, but I’m rooted to the spot, my anger at him preventing me from moving. I assume she means how high he’s been. People have to notice. They have to be talking about it when they do.
“What do you mean?” I lie, my teeth clenched so hard they might break and really make a difference in our appearance.
“Well, when he left here a few weeks ago, he looked really fucked up.”
“He’s been doing drugs, I guess.” I shrug like it doesn’t matter much to me.
“Sure, but he was on another planet. I didn’t think he would even make it back to his room until Arabella took him back to hers.” She giggles to herself. “Now she’s the new Offering.” She looks at us to confirm it. I hate myself a little for playing this game with her, but a pit is forming in my stomach.
