All the breath leaves her lungs when she says, “I suppose.”
He stands. “Then there’s nothing more to say.”
Her chest feels like an open wound. Her entire body is freezing cold in his wake. “Fine.”
“We’ll get out of here soon, and I won’t bother you again once we leave.”
“Good,” she says, even though it nearly kills her.
They are silent. Waiting. Letting the dread creep in.
Fuck this room.
Approximately a million years later, the door handle jangles and dips and, mercifully, Marcherie charges through. “There you are! We’ve been looking for you two everywhere.”
Claudia, delirious with dread and exhaustion, rushes toward Marcherie and hugs her. She doesn’t quite realize what she’s doing until her arms are tight around Marcherie’s waist and she’s whispering, “Thank you,” into the singer’s ear.
“Of course, my friend,” Marcherie says.
From the doorway, Claudia gets a whiff of clean, warm air, free from the cold weight of existential dread, and she pulls away from Marcherie.
She just hugged her almost-killer. Gods, she’s losing it.
“We’ve been locked in for—I don’t even know. How long has it been?” Cassius looks up at the chicken-feet clock.
“It’s the middle of the night. You’ve been here for nearly eleven hours.”
“Who did this to us?” Claudia asks.
Marcherie shrugs, keeping the door propped open by leaning against it. “I have no idea.”
Claudia’s eyes narrow. “Marcherie…”
Offended, her jaw drops. “It wasn’t me!”
Cassius and Claudia look at each other, then back at Marcherie with suspicion.
“I swear it really wasn’t me,” she defends. “I’ve been performing.Ask anyone—I’ve been in rehearsals since early this morning and I was onstage all night.” She smooths her hair. “Shame you missed it. I was Hypatia, blood-eagled by a Christian mob. We used real pig’s blood and everything.”
Claudia shudders at the thought.
If it wasn’t Marcherie, then who?
Certainly not Triche—he didn’t want them to be together longer than they had to be for their punishment.
When they walk out of the room, Marcherie returns to the Musices wing, and Cassius offers to walk Claudia back to her room. She accepts. It’s probably the last time he’ll ever do it. This is where they end.
Once they reach the door, Claudia pushes it open and turns back to Cassius. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he says sternly. His jaw is tight.
With a soft sigh and a forced smile, she says, “You’re going to be a great god one day, MacLeod.”
His face remains cold and serious. Claudia hangs her head and heads inside her room.
Cassius catches her wrist. “Wait.”
Her eyes lock on his fingers, then move up to his face. “What is it?”
