Page 44 of Lovely Deceit

The Knight attending me places the machine on a small wooden shelf in the cell. He starts unraveling the wires, then tells me to face Alaric. I do as he asks, briefly glancing over at Alaric to find six of those round discs sticking to his chest and torso. His Knight backs out of the cell, then uses a large key to lock him inside.

My mouth goes dry.

“Fledgling Astor?” the Knight next to me calls, and I get the sense that he’s attempted to get my attention for a little while. “Place these on your upper chest. A few inches below your clavicle should be fine.” He hands me two of the discs, and I notice they’re little suction cups.

The Knight yanks my shirt up, but I pull it back down. “Hey!”

“I need to attach these to you,” he says, sighing. “The sooner we get this on you, the sooner it will be over.”

He tugs my shirt up again, attaching the cold suction cups to my skin. When he’s finished, I hastily apply the suction cups in my hands, pulling my collar out and placing them just as he said. I have the lingering thought that I should be lucky he let me put my own on instead of making me flash the entire room.

He flips a switch on the device, and a green button glows. He checks the connections before leaving the cell and locking it, just like Alaric’s. “We’ll check on you in a half hour to see if you need more time.” He addresses this to Alaric, which only pisses me off more.

“Asshole,” I mutter as he leaves the room.

Across from me, Alaric steps forward. He grips the cell bars in his hands, and I’m taken aback by the picture in front of me. How did we end up here? This is ludicrous.

“Do you know what this is?” he asks.

“No.”

“The Deceit Test is something the Knights use to help reforge relationships. It helps clear the air, so to speak.”

I inspect the machine. “So this thing can tell if I’m lying?” He nods. “Then what? We have to start over again?”

“Just don’t lie, and you don’t have to find out.”

I roll my eyes. Easy for him to say. I know he has a secret, too. He told us as much, but I can’t tell him anything here. What if they’re listening? We’re still firmly in Knights territory.

“Eden, I’m sorry I didn’t do anything to help you on your last Trial.” He pauses for a moment, then lifts his brows when the machine doesn’t react.

“Do you want a prize or something?”

“I want you to know how sincere I am.”

“By forcing me to talk to you? That’s shitty, Professor Barclay.”

“You know I’m not your professor. I never was.”

“Bullshit,” I spout, and a little tingle comes from one of the suction cups. I glance down, wondering if it’s supposed to feel like that. Maybe there’s something wrong with my machine, but when I look over to check, there’s still only that one green light. If these are lie detectors, I must be doing something right because nothing is going off.

“Fine. If you want to call it forcing you to talk to me, I’ll go with it. I don’t know how else to get through to you.”

“Maybe by just acting like a friend?”

He purses his lips, and I’m drawn to the sight of them. Even from across the room, under the low fluorescent light, I can see them. Why they went with actual electricity in this room rather than the torches is a mystery to me. I was beginning to think this place didn’t have any modern electric work.

The Knights keep surprising me.

“Who slapped you?”

“None of your business.”

“I’m making it my business.”

“No one,” I growl, and one of the suction cups zaps me.

I gasp, staring down.

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