“In about six-hundred steps, the boobytrapped area is going to thin. Until then, you should stay behind me.”
Six-hundred-forty-two steps. Approximately. Add a few for her shorter legs.
Pausing, she gives me a strange look before falling into stride beside me. “You’ve been out here before?”
“A few times… It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” I gesture around the woods like I’m appreciating nature. It’s not hard. I’d live outdoors if I wasn’t such a bitch about the cold.
“Uh huh.” She isn’t convinced. Probably because we’re walking very pointedly through a fucking minefield. Lying to Luna would be easier if she were dense.
It’s strange that she doesn’t ask me where we’re going or what we’re doing out here. Strange but not surprising.
Over the last few days, she’s been unexpectedly pleasant. I expected her to push me, snap at me, unleash rage she no longer has to hold inside, now that the training room is off the table. It took a day for me to realize what it is she’s trying to do. I would’ve laughed if I wasn’t so busy cringing.
She wants me to fall for her. And is foolish enough to believe I’m capable.
She thinks she can stroke my humanity, feed my ego, and hold my hand all the way toward the exit where she’ll burn me the second she’s able.
She thinks she’s a manipulator. Two nights ago, when I crawled into bed beside her at half past midnight, it became obvious.
She’d rolled over to face me. I was stunned for a moment, my eyes locking with hers in the dark. I wondered how they could captivate me even while shadowed.
“Are you okay?” she’d whispered in the sweetest voice I’d ever heard.
I’d nodded and asked her the same.
“You’ve been gone all day. I was worried something happened…”
“Nothing’s gonna happen, Luna. I promise. You don’t need to worry about me.”
Her lips curved upward as she scooted my way. She pulled hair away from her face before gently resting her hand beside me, her middle finger grazing my pec in an intentionally subtle way. “What about me?”
The way she asked it… The tone of her voice…
It was intentional. Intentionally sweet. Intentionally innocent. A lie, if a question could ever be that.
I was grateful for it. I’ve never been so grateful for someone’s dishonesty.
I curved my lips into the same sad smile she donned and nodded. “You’re fine, beautiful… I promise.”
And so began our little game.
In the tense moments we were together, I listened to her talk about herself like she was finally opening up, noting every inflection in her voice that told me she was lying.
Like… She doesn’t live in New York. Or if she does, she hasn’t been there long. I caught it in a simple slip up when she mentioned taking walks from her apartment in the city center to central park. When I asked her to clarify, she mentioned Manhattan.
No New Yorker calls itthe city center. It’s justthe city.
Simple slip, but it was enough.
I asked if she was from there, and she started to spin a story about long summers in Florida with her grandparents and going to a school upstate. She mentioned loving the beach, and I smiled ear to ear while I faced away from her, undressing for bed. She said she was from Miami, theEast sidewhen I prompted, and I told her watching the sunset from South Pointe was one of the most glorious sights of my life. She agreed,claiming she and her grandmother would watch it from the front porch, a game of chess set between them.
You can’t watch a sunset from the East side. Only a sunrise.
And the little slips went on and on. The more she pretended to reveal, the more I smiled and slipped in random nonsense of my own. She wanted more, so much more. I was glad to be away, and when we were together, I shifted from amused to guilty. Amused at her attempts, guilty because I understood why she was doing it.
“So, I should tell you…” I wipe sweat off my forehead. “This is our last night together. Aurelius has informed me that tomorrow evening, he’s planning on having you brought to the Elders’ home…
“I’m not suggesting training, but… I think it might be a good idea to do a little trial run of your ceremony tomorrow morning. Just to run through how to act, what you should say. What facial expressions to make and when. I can’t stress enough how important it is that you get everything right. These people will be easy to fool, so don’tworry, but?—”
