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He wasn’t important to Rahim and Malik anymore. He was no longer the assassin’s lover, no longer a suspect. He was only a fool. So they didn’t try to stop him as he left the dungeon and kept going, all the way to his room.
CHAPTER 38
I WISH I’D NEVER met you, you lying piece of shit.
Raider let those words crash through him again and again. He couldn’t stop himself.
He’d driven Seth to those words on purpose. Because he deserved them. Because he was so damn exhausted by the hidden truths he’d been carrying, the lies he’d been telling. Because there was no point in lying anymore, not with that book. And because, if he had, Malik and Rahim would have known that Seth had not injected him.
That last fact was a tiny bright spot amid the darkness. Seth had not forced a compulsion on him. Seth had tried to protect him.
Of course, that confirmed what Raider had feared, that Seth had already known the truth. Seth had already known that Raider was guilty—and that could only be because he’d already known about the book.
The thing Seth hadn’t known was that Raider had killed not only a political figure but a lover. It wasn’t until Seth had learned that fact that he’d shattered Raider with his own truth:
I wish I’d never met you, you lying piece of shit.
But Seth had lied too. About the book. About whatever his intentions were toward Raider. Had Seth meant, all along, for Raider to end up in a cell?
Why, then, had Seth looked so devastated by Raider’s confession? Why had he given Raider the chance to lie by not injecting him?
Nothing made sense anymore, and Raider couldn’t think. He hadn’t been able to think since he’d found that goddamn book.
Only a few things were clear. One, Seth was gone. And two, Raider was exactly where he’d always known he would end up: back in a cell.
He had thought, of course, about breaking out. He could at least try to flee. He should. But it was too inevitable, being here, so damn familiar that there was something almost comfortable about it.
Besides, after Seth had turned his back, Raider simply had no reason to break free. He couldn’t go back to his life before Seth, his life without Seth. And now, there was no life with Seth. So there was no life for Raider at all and no reason to move.
It didn’t even matter that Seth had lied to him, had likely intended to capture him. Even if everything with Seth had been a lie, it was a lie that had twisted too thoroughly around Raider’s heart to unravel.
He loved Seth. In spite of everything. Regardless of Seth’s intentions. He couldn’t help it.
The door at the top of the stairs opened. Something thumped on the steps, then booted footsteps came tromping down. Raider knew that serious, intent tread, but he didn’t believe it, couldn’t believe it, until Seth stepped into the open space outside the cell. His jaw was set, his green eyes burning. He was wearing his Curator garb and all his weapons. He had his packs—both their packs—slung over his shoulder. Raider’s scimitar was in his hand.
“Why the fuck are you still in there?” Seth demanded.
“What are you doing here?” Raider croaked, his throat so tight he could barely get the words out.
Instead of answering—or maybe as his answer—Seth set down Raider’s scimitar, unshouldered the packs, and pulled his multi tool from his belt. He sequenced it for the lock pick. After making quick work of the cell’s lock, he hauled the gate open.
“Get up,” Seth ordered. “We have to move fast. We need to get to the tunnels before anyone checks here or in my room. I had to knock out the guard and drag him into the stairwell. Someone will eventually notice that he’s gone.”
With a hand on the wall for support, Raider pushed himself to his feet. “Why? Why are you doing this? You’ll be a fugitive.”
Seth’s eyes blazed like emerald fire. “I’m not letting them kill you.”
“Why not?”
“Because I—” Seth cut himself off. Jaw bunching, he looked away. The cords of his neck stood out with strain. Then he looked back at Raider and said harshly, “You don’t need to know my reasons. You certainly didn’t tell me yours. Now are you coming with me or not?”
Raider walked shakily out of the cell to meet Seth by the gear. As they each bent to grab their packs, their fingers brushed. They both froze.
In spite of everything, Raider wanted to grab Seth’s hand. He wanted, desperately, just for one more second, to believe that everything between them had been real. But he also didn’t want Seth to pull away and prove to him that it hadn’t.
So Raider grabbed his pack and slung it over his shoulder. He picked up his scimitar. Shouldering his own gear, Seth led the way out.
And Raider followed him.
