Page 109 of The Lies We Conjure
Hex’s fingers flex around my knuckles, where he cups my palm.
“Lavinia, are you, your sister, or your grandmother responsible for killing Luna?”
It’s a yes-or-no question rather than an open-ended one.
Yet my “no” results in ashes. I’m not Lavinia. That lie continues to skew the results. And it will, as long as it’s part of the question.
Infinity sinks to a squat, head buried against the tops of their knees and bracketed by their arms. Winter places a soft palm on their shoulders as they begin to quake.
I’m truly panicking now.
My mind races in a way my body can’t, plunging through the lines of this deadly maze, looking for a way out, daylight, any way to stop this. I want to yell that I’m not lying, that I never would’ve hurt Luna, that my sister wouldn’t have. But I can only stand here, braced for the next question.
“Lavinia, are you, your sister, or your grandmother responsible for killing Ursula?”
“No.”
The ashes mound higher, now the size of a juicy black plum, the color of sleep and full to bursting in my palm.
Auden shifts, his shoulders giving me more of a view of Wren’s helpless form. Winter continues to comfort Infinity. Evander’s whole presence is solid, hard, unforgiving on my right side.
“Lavinia, what are your instructions from Marsyas in regard to obtaining all four master relics?”
“I wasn’t instructed to do so.”
The ashes tower now, threatening to overtake my hand, larger than both my fists combined. Around me, everything has gone still.
One final question.
“Lavinia, why are you lying to us?”
Tears escape my unblinking eyes now, rolling down my cheeks as I answer in an unerring, unfeeling voice.
“I’m not lying.”
The ashes grow so tall they spill over. Rather than falling to the ground, they cling to my wrist, slide down the back of my hand, stopping where Hex’s skin meets mine.
I’m stained black. Guilty.
Hex releases my hand, and I hold it there, proof of my misdeeds obsidian in the shiplap light, the roof line of Hegemony Manor painted with the white light of this new day.
The final day we needed to survive.
The day they know we lied.
My voice comes back to me, my own.
“No, please.No.There’s been a misunderstanding.” I round on Auden. “Give me a different one. Give me yours. I—please, I need another chance.”
Evander steps in front of Auden, blocking him from my pleas. “You don’t get another chance. Don’t ask him. Don’t ask me. Don’t ask any of us, Lavinia.”
His words are a door slammed in my face. Every single one ofthem is closed off and distant. I nearly feel as if I’m under Ursula’s statue spell, and yet I’m alive and blinking. Begging.
“I’ll do it.” At first I don’t know what Winter means, but then she flexes her fingers. “It’s worth imprisoning her while we find the final master.”
“Imprison her?” Ada bares her teeth, and cuffs Winter’s shoulder. “We should justpunishher outright. Kaysa too. They killed Ursula. Luna. Our parents. Clear as day. We make them pay penance, then we find that relic and get out of here.”
I throw my hands up, and my words come out cracked and broken, weak and uneven. “Wait, no, please. Please, I can explain!”
