Page 70 of Serpent and Shadow

“He wants you to… leave him there?” Nyx asked in disbelief.

I looked at her. “He thinks I’m going to get myself killed, so yes.”

“Are you sure that’s the reason?” Jolie asked, a touch more cynically.

I bit my lip. I opened my mouth, about to answer, then closed it.

Slowly, I shook my head.

“No,” I admitted. A pain hardened in my chest. “I’m not sure that’s the reason. That’s certainly not the reason he gives me. But that’s what it feels like.”

“You think he’s lying to you?” Nyx asked, her voice more gentle.

I combed my free hand through my hair, and shook my head, but not exactly in a no.

“Bones?” I asked wryly, grunting. “Do I think Bones is lying? Yes, I think he’s lying. I’m just not sure which lies I should listen to, what the lies are meant to cover, or exactly what’s he’s afraid will happen if he tells me the truth.”

At the return of their silence, I glanced around, feeling my face heat.

“Obviously, he’s afraid of his father,” I said. “He thinks his father will catch me, or kill me, or kill both of us, maybe enslave us both into working for Dark Cathedral. I believe him that he doesn’t want me anywhere near the Black Tower, but he’s given me a number of different reasons for that.” I gave Jolie a flat look. “Including calling me a whore who’s ruined his fucking life. Including threatening to kill me if I get anywhere near him.”

Jolie’s eyes flinched, but she didn’t look away.

Alaric flinched too, then frowned.

“None of his reasons feel exactly true,” I added cynically. “Or maybe they all feel true, and it’s more like he’s leaving something out. There’s definitely something he’s not telling me. I just can’t tell if it’s more on the personal side…” I flushed, glancing at Luc. “…Or if it’s strategic, along the lines of him guessing what his father might do. Knowing Bones, he thinks the noble thing to do is to turn himself into a villain… let the Praecuri kill him.”

Luc scoffed under his breath, probably at the idea of Bones being “noble.”

No one else did.

“Who hit you, Leda?” Jolie asked, quieter.

I turned, puzzled, and she aimed her worried eyes back at me.

“Out by the fountain,” she prompted. “Someone attacked you. That’s how you phased, isn’t it? Someone hit you while you were walking by the Fountain of the Furies, and knocked you into the stone base.” She paused, maybe for me to say something. “Can you remember anything? A flash of color? A smell? A voice?”

“No,” I said, exhaling.

“Does Caelum know who it was?” Nyx asked.

I looked at her, and slowly shook my head.

“I have no idea,” I admitted. “But he did try to warn me.”

Luc glanced up sharply. “He warned you? So he saw them.”

Again, I could only exhale a sigh. “I don’t know what he saw. I mean, clearly, he at least sensed something. He told me to run, so presumably he knew they were hostile. If he knew exactly who they were, he didn’t tell me.”

Alaric frowned. “Did you ask him?”

“No.” I suddenly regretted bringing up any of this. I combed my fingers through my hair and leaned my forearms on my thighs. “I haven’t really talked to him since.”

When they all looked at one another, I reminded them, “He goes quiet sometimes. I told you that.”

“Have you tried to contact him?” Luc asked.

“Yes.” I looked at him, and bit my lip. “Multiple times. He hasn’t really answered. Not the way you mean.”