Stupid, but respectable.
“You were with my daughter,” Edge said.
The boy swallowed. “Yes, sir.”
“Names.”
The first girl lifted her chin even though tears were still running down her face. “I’m Tris. This is Jake. And that’s Nyla.”
Nyla nodded, trembling.
“You let her ride my bike,” Edge said.
Jake’s face went pale.
Tris pushed around him. “She was already on it when she met us.”
“Tris,” Jake warned.
“No.” She wiped her face hard with the heel of her hand. “No, I’m not letting them think this was just her being crazy. I’m not letting them think she did this because she’s bad or because of her mother or whatever everybody always says.”
Tarak had come back inside through the side door at some point, or maybe he had never left yet. Either way, he froze at the edge of the room.
Tris looked at all of them.
At Edge.
At Regan.
At Tarak.
At every Royal Bastard who thought protection was the same as knowing.
“She didn’t tell you?” Tris asked.
Regan’s face went gray.
“Tell us what?” Edge said.
Tris’s mouth trembled. “What they’ve been doing to her.”
Silence.
This silence was worse than the others.
This one had teeth.
Jake stepped beside her, voice low but steady. “At school. Desert Saints. Since they found out who she was.”
Edge did not move.
But something in him changed so violently I felt it across the room.
Regan grabbed the stair rail.
“What are you talking about?” she asked.
Her voice was thin now.
