“Are you actually okay now?” she said. “Or do you just fake it really well?”
He flinched. “I haven’t faked anything all night.”
“So you’re okay. Not hiding some dramatic aftermath or whatever.”
“No aftermath. I needed to slake. I slaked. That’s it, Claire.”
Rage like an ice bath poured over her. Her lips drew back from her teeth, and she let her eyes flash at him with a full-on glare. He flinched again. Good.
“That’s it,” she said. “That’s…it.”
“I know there’s more to—”
“No.”
He went silent and still. He met her eyes and waited.
“I have questions,” she said. “You owe me answers. Agreed?”
“Agreed.”
“Okay, so, first things first. Were you ever going to tell me you have the bloodfiend condition?”
His mouth twisted as if her question tasted sour. “Of course not.”
She sprang up from the couch, paced while the icy fury coursed through her limbs, spread through her chest and stomach. “Okay, new rule. True or false questions. No commentary. Agreed?”
Tai was an utter statue on the couch now, his face blank in a way that made her want to do some somersaults or a whole lot of shouting. His voice was just as flat. “Agreed.”
“Great. So, you were never going to tell me. Ever. That’s a true statement.”
“Yes,” he said, and when she hurled a glare at him, “True.”
“And I’m pretty sure there’s no such thing as late onset for a bloodfiend. I’m pretty sure you’ve dealt with this since your other vampire traits emerged as a kid. True or false?”
“True,” he said.
“So you didn’t develop this condition in the last three years. You were dealing with this before we fell out. True or false?”
“True.”
“And this is why you walked away from Slake It Off.”
“True.”
“It wasn’t because you’re fickle, or a liar, or any of the other things I called you. It was this.”
He didn’t move, didn’t blink. His voice was quiet now, small. “True.”
“You chose letting me slander you to my friends and your friends and think the absolute worst of you for three years. You chose that over telling me the truth.”
“Claire, it’s not—”
“I said no commentary.”
The statue surged to life. He latched one hand onto the back of his neck and sprang to his feet. His blank expression crumpled up like a ball of foil. “True. True, true, true, I chose not to tell you the weakest, vilest thing about me, because you’reyou, and I…” Tai pressed a hand to his eyes, then dragged it down his face. “I couldn’t.”
“Couldn’t be honest with me?”
