‘If you loved him so much, how could you turn your backs on him?’ I ask him through blurry vision, using my shoulder to wipe away a stray tear on my cheek.
‘You love your brother, right?’
I nod, of course I do. More than anything.
‘Then don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to.’
My brows furrow. ‘But I—’
Jed shakes his head and rises from the ground. ‘Be grateful your last image of him was a happy one,’ he says, voice harder than I’m used to. ‘Some of us aren’t that lucky.’
Jed left my room after he delivered that extremely cryptic piece of information, but he didn’t stray too far. In fact, I’m quite sure he’s been posted right outside my closed door the entire time. Every so often I catch the shadow of someone pacing back and forth from the light beneath my door and, based on the little tune being whistled, I’m one hundred per cent sure it’s him.
Clearly, he’s been assigned to guard duty, but for how long? I’m not staying in my room for much longer. The sun went down a few hours ago, which means I must have been out cold for most of the day. My stomach is growling but each time I stand to leave, my head starts spinning.
The most I’ve been able to do is slowly walk to the bathroom to relieve myself, where I also got a good look in the mirror at my face. I was right earlier, there is no rough or charred skin. But there is a deep reddish-pink mark across the apple of my cheek. It looks like I’ve been slapped, but the handprint won’t fade away. Whatever they healed me with must have been strong because Irememberthe smell of my skin burning. I remember the searing sensation. Stars, it hurt.
I try to distract myself by reading the book I checked out in the library, but find myself having to re-read passages of text so often that I slam the book closed. Just as I push it off my lap, my door opens for the first time in hours and Sebastian prowls in.
He’s holding a silver tray with a lid that instantly fills my room with the smell of cooked meat and garlic. My stomach gives an obnoxiously loud grumble.
‘Hungry?’ he asks, walking over and placing the tray near my crossed legs. I nod, and lift the tray to my lap, quickly discarding the lid because I am absolutely famished. My mouth waters the moment the hot steam carrying the scent of herbs hits my nose.
‘Where did you get the food?’ I ask cautiously before taking a bite.
‘The kitchen. Lillian told me what she’s been doing for you since Jamie died.’
I wait for him to reprimand me for taking up Lillian’s time. To tell me I should retrieve my own food and stop being such a coward, but he doesn’t. Instead, he just nods, gesturing to the tray.Eat, his eyes say.
So, I do, unable to help the soft moan that works its way up my chest as the roasted meat practically melts on my tongue.
I don’t question if it’s poisoned. If he wanted me dead, he could have done it the first time he slept in my room. He could have slashed my throat with a dagger or burnt me alive while I pretended to sleep. Something tells me, if Sebastian Zain was going to kill someone, it wouldn’t be by poison.
‘Stars, this is good,’ I groan around a mouthful, not caring one bit that all my manners have left the building. My mom would be livid if she could see me right now. I swallow down the mouthful, about to tell him how I’ve never tasted meat this tender in the dining hall but stop short when I see him staring at me, with a strange expression on his face.
‘What’s wrong?’ I ask, wiping sauce from the corner of my mouth with the pad of my thumb. I suck it off and, much to my surprise, his eyes darken.
Quickly, he turns his head away, cursing before he reaches into the front pocket of his pants and pulls out a small brown glass jar. It looks similar to the jars my mom uses for her healing ointments. ‘Your friend gave me this for your cheek. Wouldn’t let me past her without promising I’d give it to you.’
I don’t even have to ask which friend, because Tilly is the only person I know who would be insane enough to block Sebastian Zain’s path and make him do that. ‘Feisty little thing she is,’ he adds.
‘She’s a good friend,’ I say honestly, a smile lifting the corners of my mouth.
‘Only you would befriend someone as reckless as yourself.’ He places the jar on the edge of my dresser.
I shrug, popping a piece of honeyed carrot into my mouth. I don’t see Tilly as reckless; I see her as bold. She’s the type of friend who will stand by your side, even when all the odds are against you. That’s exactly what she did on that very first day. It’s whatbothher and Xavier have done. Choosing to stand by my side, even while the rest of the students at Valmora Academy couldn’t care less if my throat was sliced open in the middle of the dining hall tomorrow morning.
For that, I owe them my loyalty.
I eat in silence for a while longer until I finally work up the courage to ask a question that’s been plaguing my mind since Jed left.
‘What happened to Moira? Was she sent to solitary like Harley?’
He hesitates for a second. Through clenched teeth he answers, ‘No.’
My fork pauses halfway to my mouth.
‘No one’s being sent there until they figure out what happened to Harley. She’s under watch in one of the spare rooms in the Agate tower.’
