Page 93 of Lies That Bleed
“Have you ever wondered why he’s so protective of me?” I asked Tetra. “Maybe he has some kind of long game.”
She laughed. “Are you serious? You don’t think he would have killed you by now if that’s what he was looking to do? You’ve been alone with him plenty of times.”
She was right. At the club in the closet he could have just strangled me and left me. In the alcove at school. In the woods.So many places. If he wasn’t trying to get revenge on me for my father, then he could have.
Tetra grasped my hand, forcing me to look up at her. “I think Jace messed you up. I think you are having a hard time seeing that Kohen might just like you because you’re hot, and smart, and powerful, and funny, and all the things.”
I gave my bestie a soft smile, because she really was sweet to talk me up like that. “T, I don’t live by the same rules as you. I’m the future empress. My father killed his dad. I can’t.”
Tetra nodded. “And he doesn’t seem to care about that as much as you do.”
Damn.She was really driving this home. Was sheright? Had I seen him as the enemy this entire time and he didn’t feel the same?
Moments flashed through my mind, like when he stepped aside at the Lottery after Tetra’s name was called so she could stand next to me. How he’d punched Jace for eating a French fry off my plate—but probably really because Jace cheated on me. How every step of the way he’d been sweet to me and I’d just punished him for where he was born and the history between our people.
I punished him for who his father was. I felt a little disgusted with myself.
I stared at the yellow cast on my wrist, the cast he saw ahead of time because he could see the future. Which meant everything else he saw between us was true too.
Why would he lie about that?
“You girls need to be home by midnight.” My father’s voice came from the doorway and I jumped. How long had he been standing there?
“I’m nineteen-years-old, Father. And a graduate of the Imperial Fleet now. Do Ireallystill need a curfew?”
“You do while living under my roof,” he replied flatly.
“Yes, sir,” I said with a sigh. I was so ready to get my orders and ship out.
“Yes, sir.” Tetra saluted him, but in a lazy way that I knew he hated, because the muscle in his jaw ticced.
“Aisling, can I have a word with you privately for a second?”
Oh boy.
I got up, putting a black coat over my slightly revealing red dress, and met him in the hallway.
Zuri was standing in the entryway outside his office, peering at me with her tail swishing. No sign that she was in distress, which meant I probably wasn’t in trouble.
“I wanted to talk to you about your assignment before you hear about it tomorrow from your squad leader,” my father said.
I braced myself, praying he was sending me to Sky Reach or Thunder Cliff, where I would get the most action and training. Even Evergreen might be okay.
“First tell me where Tetra is going. I want to make sure she’s safe.”
He nodded. He’d stopped questioning my love for that girl long ago. “I’m making her a drill instructor at the Imperial Fleet Training Center. She’ll be safe right here in Riverine teaching cadets.”
I sagged in relief. So the rumors were true. I felt like I could handle anything my father told me after that. I just needed to know Tetra was safe. “Thank you, Father.”
He inclined his head in my direction. “And I’m sendingyouto Storm Haven.”
I scoffed. I couldn’t help it.
“So I can learn to knit?” I retorted. Storm Havenwas the safest base we had. It was the farthest from the war, basically a glorified storage unit for extra supplies that we packed and shipped on trains.
My father glared at me. “So you can stay alive and learn to one day take over for me.”
“You never go to Storm Haven. How am I going to learn to take over for you if I’m counting meal rations and bottles of water?” It was pretty much all I’d be doing there.
