Page 213 of A Liar's Twisted Tongue

“Saved your life,” I say, a little annoyed at the instant accusation. She scoots away from me without taking her eyes off mine.

Great, this again.

I grab Lucian’s jacket and wipe away the liquid coming from my ear, and then I look at Wendy. “I’m gonna find Lucian, you can come or you can mope. Your choice.”

I stand, and Wendy does too. She follows after me, limping, and I put my arm around her torso and half-carry her. “Thank you,” she mumbles, touching her forehead.

I push open the door to Lucian’s suite and call his name, but it’s Kai who appears. “Where’s Lucian?”

“You’re one of them,” he says. I’m getting really tired of people taking steps away from me, as if that would save them.

“Great, so you chose the nonhelpful option. Thanks.” I slam the door behind me when I leave.

“Calista can find him,” Wendy says, putting what must be more than half her weight in my hands.

“Calista?”

“They’re betrothed. They share a little of the other’s power.”

Right. Lucian is quite literally magically promised to another, and there I was kissing him and thinking he could be mine. “That’s good.”

“She should be in our suite.”

“That’s good.” We walk in relative silence, and I make a mental list of the weapons I’ll gather. I could grab my spatha sword, but it’d be easier to carry a few throwing knives. There are only two of the ones Leiholan gave me left in the suite. “So why weren’t you afraid of my eyes?”

Compared to the boy who’s known me for years, this reaction from a girl who hasn’t is discomforting.

She takes a while to say, “Calista and I stole your necklace.” White-hot fury rises in me. “We thought we could get ahead of the prophecy.”

Time fractures with the stone.

“Really?” I try to keep the anger from my voice, and I fail. “Cause it seems like you just made it happen. And I don’t see what this has to do with my eyes.”

“Your memories were inside it,” she says softly, like a confession. I’m ready to throw her on the ground and leave her there. What a gross invasion of my privacy. I’m scared of the things she saw me do. “I saw your mom, Isa. I grew up seeing that face in photographs. She was my mom’s best friend, so…”

“Got it,” I say. I don’t want to talk any more about Isa than I have to.

Once we’re in our suite, Wendy knocks on Calista’s door and I go into my room.

“Des!” Aralia sits up. “You’re alright.”

“Fine.” I pull my spatha from the wall. “Do you have any more little knives?”

“A few,” she says like she’s unsure.

“I could use them.” I strap the sheathe to my back and slide the sword in.

“You’re going to fight?” Her eyebrows knit together in worry.

I think about giving her a quippy response, but I decide time is of the essence and settle for, “I need the knives.”

Aralia pulls things from the desk between our beds and I pull myself out of the dress, opting for something more suitable for battle.

Battle. What am I doing? As if I could even fight a classmate, let alone some ominous magical evil thing. I’m in over my head.

Well... maybe not. I’m quite the killer.

“Here.” She hands me three silver daggers. I guess they’ll have to be enough. Then she does exactly what I did: puts on clothes more suitable for battle.

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