Page 87 of The Lies We Conjure
“Yes and yes,” Hex answers without hesitation but wielding more of an edge than before.
“When did you separate and where?” Lavinia shouts. A good idea—a confirmation of what the Blackgates saw would prove both the Cerises’ intentions to tell the truth are real, and also back the sisters’ alibi.
“At the Field of Stars. They drove away, leaving us to hike,” Hex answers.
When he finishes, Ada crowds in with another plea. “Let us in, please.”
I put down my blunt object. “Evander, two truths. We need to hear what they have to say.”
“I don’t like it,” Evander growls.
“There are five of us and two of them. It’s a more dangerous situation for them,” I point out. “We should let them in, hear what they have to say, and go from there.”
Still, Evander hesitates. Winter, though, charges toward the door. “They sound terrified. Have a heart, patriarch. If you won’t open it, I will.”
“Fine,” Evander relents, sliding in front of Winter at the last second. He calls fire in his palm—basically the Elemental equivalent of raising a gun with the safety off and the chamber cocked—and unlocks the deadbolt, the regular lock, and cracks the door.
Though his broad back fills the frame, from where I’m standing,fingers wrapped around the bludgeon I’ve chosen, I can see the twins standing there together, Ada under Hex’s arm, cheeks shiny beneath crimson-tinged eyes. Her brother is sallow and rumpled, his hair an unmitigated mess, bruises beneath his eyes.
“Do your parents know you’re here?” Evander asks.
“Of course not,” Hex snaps, frustration surfacing. “And they’d ring our necks if they knew we were. And the longer we stand out here, the more chance we have of getting caught. Let us in.”
With a curse, Winter bodily shoves Evander aside, the flame in his palm shivering as she uses his own stumbling, surprised weight to crack the door open farther. Hex seizes the opportunity and slips through the gap, hauling Ada by her wrist.
Evander leans into the hall, and seeing nothing, seals the door with deadbolts in place and stands in front of it. The fire in his palm has dimmed, and he crosses his arms, staring down at our new guests like judge and executioner.
“It’s not enough to tell us your parents weren’t with you all day. I want to hear you say it.”
Hex and Ada drop onto the couch, putting space between themselves and the table I stand at with the Blackgate girls, and between where Evander guards the door. Winter hovers in the negative space between our three points of contact.
Hex scrapes a hand across his jaw. “I know you can put two and two together, Evander—”
“Say they killed Luna,” Winter prompts. “Hex, we need to hear it. There’s no room for misunderstanding why you’re here or what information you have.”
Hex’s head falls back, eyes scrunched closed. Beside him, Ada stares at the bejeweled familial ring on her own finger, chords of her neck straining beneath her drape of blond hair. Hex lifts his head, looks Evander straight in the eye, and when he speaks his words are sharp enough to draw blood. “Our parents weren’t with us, but they didn’t kill Luna.”
My jaw drops, Winter’s eyes narrow, and Evander pushes off the doorframe, emerald flames flickering dangerously in bothhands. “I’m not interested in a spoon-fed alibi right now, so you can just—”
“Our parents didn’t kill Luna,” Hex cuts him off, voice climbing high and loud, “because she wasalready deadwhen they returned to the mansion to get the knivesweused toattack you.”
CHAPTER27
AUDEN
In the next second, every one of us is in motion.
Lavinia hauls Kaysa to the floor, using the table as a shield.
I throw up anactualshield, covering the three of us as Evander launches twin fireballs straight at the Cerises. While Winter… sprays water directly at Evander’s fireballs before the magic collides with the Cerises’ cover.
In the silence of the flames hissing out, my eyes dart between the twins, shielded behind a glittering vermilion wall of magic, and Evander, who spits, “You admit to attacking us?” at the same time Winter whispers, “Hex, youwhat?”
Hex draws his phone and waves it behind the magical protection.
“Would you like to see the video? Because I documented it.”
“I’d rather not watch myself nearly bleed out, thank you,” Evander retorts. “You’ve had your time to gloat. Now give me one reason I shouldn’t march you straight out of here.”
