"I didn't," I say before anyone can throw the first stone. "I didn't touch her."
The words fall onto the entryway tile and lie there like broken glass.
"Inside," Ragon says, voice a flat blade.
We spill into the living room in a staggered formation—Eli hovering near Marie's chair, Drake crowding her, Jasper closing the door with quiet efficiency. I hang back because the ground in front of me looks like a trap.
The wrap on Marie's ankle is black. Her arm is wrapped in white. Her eyes are still swollen from crying.
Today her eyes flick to me and gleam.
"She was right behind me," she says, pointing like a child identifying a culprit. "She pushed me. I swear, Ragon."
"I didn't," I say again, louder. "I was beside you. There were people everywhere. Someone could have bumped—"
"Liar," she chokes, and the word is small and vicious. "You've hated me since I got here."
"I hate being erased. I don't want you dead."
"Stop," Ragon says, and the floor might as well crack open.
"Let's be rational," Eli says. "The exhibit has cameras. We can request the footage tonight."
"We will," Ragon says without looking at him. "Later."
Later might as well be never when his jaw looks like that.
Drake bristles. "Ragon, come on. She's not—" He looks at me like he's trying to make the math line up. "Vee wouldn't just—"
"You didn't see," Marie whispers. "You didn't feel it."
"I was having a good time! I feltgoodfor the first time in a long time. I did not feel my hands on your back!"
Ragon's mouth ticks. "I'm not interested in hearing the word 'feel' from either of you right now. We are going to restore order before we litigate facts."
He looks at me then, and there's a line in his face I don't see often. Something older, meaner.
My pulse skitters.
"Jealousy. Territoriality. Disrespect. I am not tolerating it anymore."
"I didn't—"
He cuts me off with a slice of his hand. "Stoptalking."
The command hits like a pressure drop. My mouth closes with a click.
Marie tucks herself closer to him with calculated fragility. "She wanted to humiliate me. In public. To prove I don't belong here. She wanted everyone to see me fall. Or she wanted to kill me so she could have you to herself again. She can’t stand that I’m your scent match and she isn’t."
"I wanted to see the gorillas eat carrots," I say through my teeth.
"Verena," Ragon says, warning threaded through my name.
"I didn't push her."
Drake's hand lifts and drops uselessly. "Ragon. We should breathe before anyone says something we can't take back."
Ragon turns and sinks his fist into the wall.
