Page 8 of Broken Truths

I wouldn’t put it past the Knights to have orchestrated all of this. If they even remotely suspected why I was here, they’d put these two up to this.

But then I remember Alaric with the nodes all over his body, telling me his truth.

And Leo with blood dripping from his wounds, clinging to the fresh honesty in his gaze…

No, I think—at least this time—that I truly do have people on my side other than Oliver.

3

Eden

“You’re unbelievable.”

The harsh words prick my skin until every eye in the room turns toward Oliver. My sweet, sweet Oliver, standing there looking like water on the verge of boiling.

The air in the room thickens as he and Leo square off again. They’ve been saying Leo and I are like oil and vinegar, but these two are day and night. Watching them makes my heart spring around in my chest like an out-of-control pogo stick. Leo is everything Oliver hates.

“What’s the problem now? I’ll have to start calling you royal bitch.”

I push my tongue against my teeth, peering back and forth between the two men. Oliver is my ride or die. And Leo? Sometimes it feels like if he’s not pissing me off, I will die. Maybe not drop dead on the spot, but a slow, unfeeling death that peels life away cold moment after cold moment. I run hot with him in a different way than the others. He calls to the parts of me that never felt like I was good enough.

In that, you would think that Oliver and Leo would find some common ground.

“Try it and see what happens,” Oliver snaps back.

Leo smirks, and I swear he can never just leave things alone. Not even for the greater good. “You don’t scare me, Number Five,” he snarls. “Are you going to call James to kidnap me?”

Oliver stomps forward. “No, trash like you deserves to be taken out personally.”

I step between the two of them before it can come to blows. My palm on Oliver’s chest grows heated under his warmth, and the pulsing of his heart thumps right through me.

He peers down, and we stare at each other for the longest time. His blue eyes soften, and all I have to say is, “Please?” He snaps his mouth shut, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. After several long, tense moments, he takes a step back.

I don’t know what I did to deserve Oliver, but I’ll never take him for granted.

“For the record,” he huffs. “I’ll disagree with anything that will possibly hurt Eden. Again.”

Alaric’s stature seems to unfold before us. “No one is saying they want to hurt Eden again. Not even Leo. But I think he’s also onto something. If we did our best to reconcile with the Elders, we’re in the perfect position to find out information.” He turns toward me. There’s a shutter there, like a broken piece of wood hanging from a hinge that’s impeding his view. I’ve been worried about him for the last week or so now, but there’s been so many other things that have taken priority. “Your instinct was correct when you came to Carnegie to pledge the Knights, Eden. Leo and I can dive further than you ever could, though. We’re in.”

“Well, you’re in,” Leo says. “I’m still atoning.”

Alaric rubs his stubbled jawline. “I’m not exactly in a position to start poking around right now either, but I can fix that.”

Knowing I’m the reason why he’s not in a good position right now, I bite my lip. A part of me should blame myself, but I don’t. He needed to be taught a lesson, and in doing so, he taught me one. I can trust him.

Oliver winds his arm around my waist and pulls me back so that I’m saddled against his front. “How deep will you have to go?” His words echo through my entire form. “Will we have no contact? No idea what’s going on?”

Alaric answers once again. He’s like the referee between Leo and Oliver, and he’s doing a damn good job of it right now. “Our duties haven’t changed as far as we’re aware. We’re still in this grouping to help Eden get through to Knighthood.”

“I wonder when they’re going to drop that little charade?” Leo asks offhandedly.

Alaric’s gaze burns right through me, and I swear Oliver’s hold tightens. “I don’t think they’ll keep it up for long. If you break down what they said they were doing—helping the females navigate through the Knights’ tests—at some point, that all has to go away. They’ll want to see how she does on her own.”

“If they actually care,” I add.

Leo nods once. “We all know the real reason for the groupings was so the guys could spy on the Pledges.” He shrugs. “Ingenious, really. I wouldn’t be surprised if they continued this in the future. Just another avenue of information they can use to weed out the bad ones.”

His sentence ends dripping in sarcasm, like thick honey laced with anthrax. I see what he means. The groupings lead to tattling. No one will be getting in who isn’t properly vetted on all levels.

---