Page 77 of These Godly Lies
Anna waits, breath held so long her lungs burn with it, as he pulls away. His dark blue eyes search hers. She stares back, relief slowly unknotting the worry snaring around her heart.
She is still herself. Cassius’ kiss no different to her than any mortal. The immunity to his charms was hers.
Only hers. Her gift.
“What power do you possess?” Cassius asks.
“I do not have one.” Her answer is breathy, drunk without her having to bother faking it. A lie has never tasted so sweet. It coats her tongue, makes her giddy. She is a mouse in a den of snakes, but they’ve been robbed of their venom without their knowing it.
There is a shadow of a smile hinting at the corner of Cassius’ mouth. Anna thinks it says,well done. “Is that all you wished for, oh exalted one?” The mockery coating the words is so thick it drips.
The First’s glare is full of warnings. “Careful, Cassius. I’m not in the mood. If you wish to keep your tongue, I advise youstill it.” Anna can feel his gaze burning into her cheek, but she doesn’t dare look away from Cassius. She remembers how Khiran described it to her—of being enamored. Obsessed. As if there were no one else in the world but him and his words. “Ask how she got the peach.”
Cassius turns back to her, trying to look admonished and failing spectacularly. “Who gave you the peach?”
Whonothow. The difference strikes her as an important one. A hint of a plan laid out in the meager offering of a few words.
Who?
It’s not what the First asked. The who is already—no. Not known.Assumed. They all believed it to be Khiran, because who else would risk taking a peach, of angering The First, than the one who once wished to overthrow him? Anna understands the differencebetween knowledge and assumptions. Understands that the latter holds room for doubt.
“A woman gave it to me,” she answers. “She—”
“I don’t care what form The Liesmith took,” The First interrupts, frowning. “Ask her how he got it.”
“How did Khiran get it from The Tree?”
“It wasn’t him. It wasn’t Khiran.” She can feel the ripples of shock, hear the murmurs, but she doesn’t pull her gaze from Cassius’ face. She thinks of another pair of blue eyes, one’s cold with cruelty. “It was the one you call The Huntress.”
The reaction is immediate, but it’s the shine of approval in Cassius’ gaze that she focuses on. In them, she sees the same wickedly sharp edge as the moment he looked at her across a courtyard and realized she wasdifferent.
“She lies!” Marcia shrieks. From the corner of her vision, Anna can see her draping herself at the feet of the throne. “He must have stolen my face! My love for you is endless. No one has ever matched my devotion to you! The girl is a liar. Asnakejust like her maker! You mustn’t—”
The First strikes her, the back of his hand cracking against her cheek with enough force to send her stumbling. “You presume to tell me what to do?!”
“No! No, of course not. I wish only to serve you. Toprotectyou.”
His pale hand wraps around her throat. “And yet, Cassius’ charms point to the opposite,” he says, thumb stroking the line of her jaw. He looks down on her, contemplates her fate with as much emotion as one decides on what animal to cull for their next meal. “Release the girl, Cassius. I have questions for Marcia that require explicitly honest answers.”
Cassius’ hands slip away from her face, his finger tapping against her jaw. Anna knows it’s a signal, but she doesn’t know how to interpret it and she’s too afraid she’ll ruin everything by dropping the act too soon. Cassius chuckles, a dark purr in his voice. “How sweet. She still can’t seem to keep her eyes off me! Do you like what you see, Little Bird?”
Anna ducks her head. To anyone else, it must look likeembarrassment, but the truth is she fears her expression might give her away. Her blood is thrumming in her veins; her pulse so quick, she feels like her entire body is humming with it.
She remembers the secretive smile Cassius gave the morning Khiran asked him what had changed—what could give them a chance at winning a war so stacked against them. Anna had no idea what it could be, not until she saw the flash of satisfaction the moment The First called out Marcia’s name.
He tried to possess you.Khiran had told her.If he asked you to jump, the only question that would break through the magic ishow high.Anna saw the power such a gift could wield, but didn’t share Khiran’s fear. Her hands close into fists, her knuckles pale against the rich earth.
Cassius said he had been working with Silas. Silas who loved him—who trusted him completely. Who would be willing to submit himself to his kiss, again and again, if it meant his lover could twist his gift into somethingelse. Something darker than obsession. Something that skipped the question, the order, entirely.
Anna knows, even before his lips touch Marcia’s, that it won’t be the truth that springs from her lips. It will be his words in the shape of her voice. His will disguised as her actions. With just a kiss, he will have her power at his disposal.
She looks up just to see Cassius pull away, watching the hatred in Marcia’s eyes soften into dough for him to mold. Anna holds her breath. Counts.
One.
Two.
Three.
