Page 106 of The Lies We Conjure
Wren’s terrified face is the whole of my vision.
I have to fight for her. I can’t rely on denial. I need a defense.
“No, look, she’s turning away from them. If she wanted the Blood relic, she would be reaching down to get it—”
“Down from where they fell after shekilledthem?” Hex seethes.
Killed.
The metallic stench of blood coats the back of my throat.
“Or,” Ada argues, eyes narrowing, “she finally did something so heinous that it triggered Ursula’s spell, she felt the magic rising, and bolted, knowing she was finally caught, hours after murdering Luna.”
“No, no, she would never—”
“How do youknow?” Hex demands. “Were you with her the whole time?”
“I—we were asleep.”
Auden and me. Not Wren and me.
But Hex reads that “we” as sisters, together.
“No,youwere asleep.” Hex’s features sharpen to a knifepoint. He’s still looming, his entire body tilted toward mine, his shadow a shroud of its own. “Or so you say—how do we know you weren’t here with her when this happened? Just like a Blackgate to sleep tight after watching two people die.”
“Or by producing the spell that killed them,” Ada spits, her blond hair wild, a lion’s mane, as she bares her teeth. “Did you do it, Lavinia? Did you do it and let your sister take the fall?”
“No. No—”
“The spell doesn’t work like that,” Infinity cuts in, to my surpriseand relief. “But itdidwork. Which means it wasn’t Kaysa who killed them, or it would have frozen her before she stole the master. Both would have activated the spell. They’re equal offenses.”
“Stealing a master and killing our parents are not equal!” Ada explodes, shouting at the sky. The mountains echo back her anguish.
Auden signals with the hand that isn’t my anchor, placating and pleading. “And we don’t know that it works like that. If Kaysa used her magic against them and stole the master in sequence, it’s possible she performed both offenses before Ursula’s spell kicked in. It’s unclear.”
I should be offended that he’s not on my side, that he thinks my sister could and would do such a thing. But he’s trying to be logical, to think things through. Buying time like he did with the magic on his driveway, making space between passionate response and reason.
But she can’t have killed him.
My panicked brain grasps for answers. Nothing crystallizes in my mind but more questions.
Why does Wren have the Elemental master? The Blood master would make more sense in this situation where absolutely everything is upside down.
I grip Auden’s hand harder, but it’s like clutching a piece of ice, as if it’s disappearing with each passing moment. He’s slipping through my fingertips.
“No, no, please, you have this all wrong.” My stupid accent wobbles. A sob rises in my chest and wheezes into this impossible morning. “We want nothing to do with the relics, with the title, with power. We just want to go home.”
Though I’ve insisted this before, now it’s the wrong thing to say.
Hex advances with intent and rage now, barely restrained violence in the cut of his shoulders, his stride, the sneer carved on his trembling mouth. Ada isn’t an anchor, weighing him down, but a twin engine, dangerous and cutting beside him. “You know who can’t go home? Our parents!”
His anguish cracks something in Infinity, who turns to me too,their previous defense of my sister vanishing as a new wave of heartbreak crashes over their elegant features. “My grandmama.”
Winter places a hand on Infinity’s elbow, her whole face a shadow, stern as stone as her blue eyes flicker like flame. “Ursula. And the goddamn driver.”
None of them can go home.
My heart stops beating. I’m sure of it. Panic icing it out, suspending it the same way Wren is held, still and stoic. The blood within me slows to a standstill, my lungs clench like a fist. A surge of numbness spreads up my legs. I tilt and vaguely realize I might pass out.
