Page 77 of Radiant Shadows

“Ihateyou!” she hissed, her lips trembling in their grimace.

Those three words struck me like a speeding freight train, the enormity of the situation slamming into me with earth-shattering force.

No. No, no, no.

That cliff I thought I’d been so firmly planted on? The one I thought would be difficult to jump from because I’d held onto the guardrail for too long? I was pretty sure the damned hope from Shea’s pseudo-spell severed that handhold before blasting me right off the rock.

I was in love with Arya.

I’d finally fallen in love. I’d finally done the one thing I swore I’d never do. I finally felt everything my mother surely felt for my father.

And Arya hated me.

The curse wasn’t broken. My foolishness triggered it instead.

The spell hadn’t worked.

“Don’t look so surprised,”she snarled through her tears. “Iknow.”

Another jolt of deepest pain shredded through my chest as I tried to comprehend her words.

“Ca–can we talk?” I pleaded in a weak and desperate tone I had never heard from myself.

She jerked away when I reached for her arm. I hadn’t even realized that I’d reached out to touch her. The feelings had takensuch a hold that I no longer had complete control of my actions. I was merely a puppet for my chaotic and crumbling emotions.

“What’s the point?” she snapped, throwing her arms into the air. “Your father explained it all.”

I frowned in destitute confusion. “My father?”

“Arthur?” She folded her arms across her chest, tears still on her cheeks, although she’d regained some composure. “Lord Dracul? TheGeneral?He told me everything.”

I staggered back a step, then side-stepped to lean against the side of the building. The concrete was cool through the back of my shirt, offering me a grounding effect.

This was really happening.

She stalked toward me like a lioness cornering a wounded lamb. “Heorderedyou to become my friend when I came to the school.”

I nodded once. I’d planned to tell her all of this. There was no point denying it. “That’s true.”

Her eyes widened for a split second, but her surprise was immediately replaced by the former fury.

“It’s true,” she whispered. “That you were onlypretendingto be my friend in order to find out if I was ‘thesiren.’”She used air quotes and a sarcastic tone for the last phrase.

“That was how it started, but that’s not how it continued,” I defended.

“Oh, and how did it continue?” she asked in a mocking tone, cocking her head to one side. “You decided to stick around and see how many times you could fuck me?”

“No, it wasn’t like that—” I began, but she cut me off.

“You know, one thing I don’t understand is why you asked me to be your girlfriend after your asshole dad told you to break it off with me. Why continue this fucking game if you didn’t have to? Was I just that pathetic and easy?”

“No!” I shouted, carried away by my desperation to get her to hear me over her own tirade. “You don’t understand. This thing between us may have started out as an assignment, but I grew to really care about you, to lo—”

“Don’t youdaresay the word,” she snapped, stomping forward and jabbing her index finger into my chest. “You’re a selfish, entitled manipulator. You’re no better than your dictator of a father. I can’t trust a fucking word that comes out of either of your mouths.”

“Arya, please.” I reached for her hand.

Again, she jerked it away.

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