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The guard didn’t seem to care. His laughter was harsh and mocking as he walked out, slamming the door behind him and stealing the last of the light with him.

Gideon’s hands trembled slightly as he reached for the wooden cup. He cursed himself for the weakness, but the thirst was overwhelming.

If he didn’t drink now, it would all leak out in moments, and he would die of thirst. If it was poisoned, he would die too—perhaps quicker, but more painfully.

He didn’t know which fate was worse.

He lifted the cup to his lips and gulped it down in one desperate swallow, barely tasting the water as it coursed down his parched throat.

He didn’t bother with the food. The sight of the gray slop masquerading as porridge turned his stomach, and he suspected it would do him more harm than good.

From across the cell, he heard Leila moving. He could barely make out her silhouette in the oppressive darkness, but even from that, her posture suggested she was in pain.

Despite everything, the thought of her being hurt affected him more than it should.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, his voice harsh and sharp.

There was a pause before she answered. “Why do you care?”

“I suppose I really don’t,” he said on a sigh. “Just making conversation. If we’re left here long enough without talking, one can go mad.”

“I thought you said I was here with an ulterior motive. That I’m still working for the Brotherhood. Do you really want to risk talking to me?”

Gideon leaned his head back against the cold wall.

He had said that. And he did think that. It was one of many thoughts swirling in his mind. When it came to Leila, he couldn’t trust anything.

Especially not himself.

“There’s nothing I can say that will make this situation worse,” he finally admitted, his tone bitter. “I’m just surprised you work with men who’d treat you this way. Forcing you to seduce their enemies, to kill them, then throwing you into a dark, dank cell for whatever purpose they have in mind.”

Her laughter was sharp, bitter, and full of pain. The sound sent an unexpected chill down his spine.

“You think this is the worst they’ve ever done to me?” she asked. “You are delightfully naive, Gideon.”

Despite his determination to hate her, he found himself flinching at the thought of the horrors she’d endured. But he pushed down the unwanted sympathy and forced his voice to remain hard. “Yet you were happily doing their bidding.”

Just a few hours ago, he had defended her choices. Now he was throwing them in her face.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about.” Her voice was quiet now, almost resigned.

“You’re right, I don’t. You know why? Because you haven’t told me a single thing that was true. Instead, you lied to me, used me, and manipulated me from the first time we met until the very end.”

“You are wrong.”

“Which part?”

“You are wrong when you say I lied to you until the very end.” She paused, and her next words came out quieter, as if she didn’t quite believe them herself. “I told you the truth.”

He let out a harsh laugh that made his ribs burn in pain. He paused, regretting his outburst. Still, he continued, “You mean when you finally admitted you tried to kill me? After I spotted your precious mark?”

“I told you more truths than lies,” she said stubbornly.

“You set up a trap to kill me just the night before. How do you expect me to trust anything you say?”

“Because I had no choice!” The words exploded from her, raw, desperate, and loud. If the guards were standing in the corridor, they surely heard her.

If she was telling the truth and she was locked up with him as punishment, then why would she risk them knowing the extent of her involvement with Gideon? Unless she knew she wouldn’t be getting out of this place no matter what she said or did.