“I haven’t had food for a day, steal someone else’s plate.”
Before she can argue, Marcus hands his plate to Bella. “Here, I’m full.” My eyebrows lift in shock, and I look up to Cayden who smirks at my reaction.
“Surprised, love?” I can’t decide if I want to stab him with the fork or smile. Maybe both? Definitely both.
His sarcasm is infuriating, he is infuriating. “Don’t be mad at me, love. You kissed me, too.”
Bella spits out the drink she had just sipped while Marcus’s jaw drops. Clearly the kiss wasn’t planned, judging by that reaction. But it only makes me question why he kissed me. “You kissed him? Darlia!”
“Oh, piss off.”
“Darlia, you could be killed for that!” Bella yells, a huff escaping as she stares at me. I can tell she’s worried, but she doesn’t have any reason to be. Cayden promised I wouldn’t get hurt, and while I don’t believe that, I do believe he wouldn’t let me die; at least not until he’s done with his games he’s still trying to get me to figure it out.
“I’ll be fine, no one is going to tell. Right?”
Bella’s nod is instant, but the worry doesn’t leave her eyes. “Darlia, I already—”
“You won’t lose me, I promise.”
We both lost the people we considered sisters, family. We only have each other left now and I mean every word when I say Bella won’t lose me. Not only am I too stubborn to die, I’m trained to survive. I won’t let either of us end up like Kylie or Lauren.
Cayden suggested another walk outside after dinner, so we made our way back out to the back gardens. This time he leads me to a private patch of grass where a blanket has been laid down.
“I didn’t want you getting your dress dirty. Lay down?”
Confusion knits my brows, but I comply, laying down on the blanket and looking up at the sky above. There are so many stars here. Back at The Academy, the air pollution is so bad we barely get to see any in the few seconds we’re outside, leaving for missions.
But here, here the sky has thousands of them, all lighting up the sky and twinkling without a care in the world. All without knowing the horrors happening in the real world. They look so peaceful. I wish I was a star, I would shine just as bright, if not brighter, without a care in the world, because I wouldn’t have to care. No one could hurt me.
Cayden lays down beside me, pulling me into his side so that our bodies touch, his warmth seeping through me like a furnace. “My sister loves looking at the stars, too. I figured it was a universal girl thing.”
Fuck.
“Cayden I don’t want to know that, what if…what if they manage to break me? What if I tell them? You shouldn’t trust me with details like that.”
“I do trust you.”
“Cayden, please—”
He shakes his head, turning to look at me. He lays on his side, resting his weight on his arm as the other circles my waist. “Darlia, you beautiful, stubborn girl. No one is going to break you. I watched you be drugged and completely out of your mind, strapped to a chair while they questioned you, trying to use your vulnerability against you, and you told them nothing.”
“I wasn’t out of my mind, I was conscious.”
“Not in the beginning, you weren’t.”
I stare at him confused, my mind racing with even more questions. Lately it feels like that’s all I get, questions without any answers. I look back at him, trying to piece together details in my mind but come up blank.
“Wait, you watched me? How? I thought Marcus was the one who carried me out?”
“Marcus wasn’t the only one there, love. I had to make sure I could trust you. And I had to keep my promise to a certain pretty girl.”
“Cayden, please answer one of my questions. I am so tired of getting no answers.”
To his credit, he does look genuinely sympathetic, but he still doesn’t give me a direct answer and it only infuriates me more.
“I told you I have my sources, love.”
“But who? And why are they helping you? Why would they put their life on the line to help you? I don’t understand any of this, Cayden, and it’s infuriating. If you trust me so much, why won’t you just tell me?”
