Page 81 of The Lies We Conjure
Both kids protesting, Hector pulls out his phone. I’m not sure who this man is—pushy, petty, entitled. But I’m starting to believe this is who Hector always was beneath his sheen of agreeability. “Just let me snap the clue and I’ll haul my priorities away from you.”
“I wish you’d haul them off the side of Mercy’s Point,” Winter mutters.
Evander nods to the hallway that leads to the grand staircase in the foyer. “We can use the tearoom.”
“That’s no better than the study,” Hector argues. “I’m not leaving this floor—”
“We can’t just dissect this clue like that didn’t just happen,” Winter argues, running ahead and then wheeling around so she can bar the lot of us from moving forward down the hallway. She stops in a square of light from the courtyard, eyes blazing, her whole body rigid with exasperation. “Luna was murdered.Murdered.And we’re not going to discuss it?”
“Winter’s right,” Lavinia agrees without hesitation. “How can we just meet about the clue like that didn’t just happen?” She and Kaysa are twined together, holding hands. The younger sister’s face still blotchy from tears shed at Luna’s expense, though the girl hardly knew the woman, her empathy’s been run ragged, astonishing for anyone and unheard of for a Blackgate. “I’m all for compartmentalizing but Nona Marsyas did not kill Luna.”
“Which means someone here did,” Winter snaps. “And only one of us is pushing forward with their dismal-ass priorities.”
She glares at Hector Cerise.
“If that look is to insinuate that I had anything to do with Luna’s death, I will not tolerate it, Winter.”
“I don’t give a shit what you’ll tolerate, Hector.”
“Papa, Winter’s right,” Hex says. “It’s pretty messed up that you want to hunt for that master tonight.”
“Messed up?I have my eye on the prize, Junior. Finding the masters is the way out of here. I’m not going to let what happened to Luna distract me from getting my family home safe.”
“And gaining control of the Four Lines?” Evander challenges.
“I will hear no such thing fromyou.”
“Then hear it from me, Senior.” Hex steps toe-to-toe with Hector. He’s actually taller. “If someone murdered Luna, what’s to keep them from murdering any of us?”
“Theydidtry to murder us.” I step in. All four Cerises turn as one—Winter too.
“Auden, what? Evander said it was unimportant…” A hand flies to Winter’s stomach as if she’s going to be sick. Her eyes read my face, Evander’s—looking for a hint. She rounds on Lavinia. “I thought you said it was just a cut.”
When I speak, it’s as much to her as to Hector. “Someone threw several knives at us in the woods today. Grazed Lavinia but got Evander in the back and nearly killed him. A fact I’m sure you guessed from the sheer amount of blood coating his jersey—you know what a lethal wound might spill, don’t you?”
Hector rears away, gesturing to my cousin. “He seems fine other than the ruined jersey for a school he no longer attends.”
“Because I healed him. If I hadn’t been with him, he would’ve died. And the attacker took aim at Lavinia too—three knives straight to her back that I repelled.”
All color drains from Winter’s face as Hector simply blinks at us, as if any reaction will lead to an accusation. As if he can avoid it.
“Both of us are currently leaders of our families. People who might be in line for High Sorcerer if it’s truly a competition—same as Luna,” Evander says, his baritone flat. “Where were you today, Hector?”
Anger flares Evander’s nostrils, leaving his shoulders heaving in a way that would make a normal man back away.
Hector, though, doesn’t move.
“The stress of what’s happening here is making you entertainideas that are completely out of line and unreasonable, Evander. I refuse to answer this nonsense—”
“If you want to take a picture of this clue, you’ll answer where you were,” I say, brandishing Ursula’s magical paper. “Answer the question.”
“This is a waste of time!” Hector explodes, barely missing Sanguine with his arms thrown wide. She flinches. “We’re all dead if we’re locked in here. Don’t you see? We’ll die here. The lines will be in shambles. If I must find the remaining two relics by myself in the next twenty-seven hours, I will. Because I want out of here.”
“You want control more,” Evander accuses.
“I want both!” Hector roars. He stabs a finger at Evander. “I have dedicated my life to leading the Blood Line and that’s what I plan to do until the day I die. And if I find the next two relics by myself while the rest of you hide out, I should be given control of the Four Lines as High Sorcerer!”
“If you want to be High Sorcerer,” I reiterate, “you can answer the simple question of where you were today.”
