Xara didn’t turn. There was a small bottle in her hand. She shook it absently, and Rin heard a rattle—pills.
"Xara, what’s wrong? You said it was Keir. Is he here, too? Are you both okay?"
"It’s not Keir. I just needed you to come." Xara turned, holding up the bottle of pills. "I wasn’t going to drug you. I wanted to give you a fighting chance against them." Her voice broke.
"Drug me—Xara, what are you talking about? Against who?"
Faint sounds came from outside the door, like hushed footsteps. Rin pulled her Echogun out of her holster, thumb resting on the safety.
Xara’s chin wobbled. "I wasn’t going to drug you. I promise, but—" Her hands shook as she uncapped the bottle. Rin saw the label. Somnocept.
It was then that Rin knew:
"You drugged Cyrus at the gala."
Xara sobbed. "I had to. They made me. If I didn’t—my mother. She’s sick. She needs medicine. Sabine Blackfall blackmailed me into helping her to help my mother, to get her the medicine she needs." She tipped the bottle over, and pills clattered onto the floor. "They’re outside, waiting on you."
Rin struggled to keep track. It was only her training—and that cool pressure at her nape—that made her keep her wits about her. "Who, Xara?"
"Director Ilsa. She’s outside with President Shin. Sabine Blackfall told them to be here, to wait on you, after I-I drugged you. I’m sorry. I had no choice."
Auren would come for Rin—he was probably here now, watching.
Xara’s sobs were so violent, she fell to her knees and rocked.
Rin’s heart twisted. "There’s always a choice. I’m sorry you felt pushed into this, but I can’t help you. I can’t give myself over to them." She began to walk down the hall to the room she’d once called hers. Because she knew now—this place, the Academy, the dorms—it wasn’t hers anymore. A flash of white stood by her closed door.
Auren was here. He lifted a finger to his lips and made a shushing sound. Rin met his eyes, nodding.
From the kitchen, Xara was still gasping. "No, no,please—you don’t understand. Just go with them. Pretend to be drugged, if you have to! They won’t hurt you. I promise."
Rin stopped, lips twisting downward into a pained grimace. She held up her hand to Auren, then returned to the kitchen, knowing he was listening, waiting for her signal so he could portal them away from here.
"Did Sabine tell you that they wouldn’t hurt me? If she did, she lied. She has hurt me, and many others." Rin threw caution to the wind, lit it on fire. "She’s been hurting me since I was a little girl. She and Talor have been illegally experimenting on Aetherborns. That’s what she wants to do to me—that’s what shehasdone to me. If she and Blackfall Industries had their way, I would be kept in a cage for the rest of my short life, bled and sedated." She stared at the bottle of Somnocept, pills scattered on the floor by Xara’s knees. "If you cared about your mother, you would never let her take any more of Blackfall Industries’ drugs ever again. If she’s sick, it may not be what you think. Sabine Blackfall has a way of twisting everything for her gain. Don’t trust her, Xara. Please. This is me begging you. You… you’re my friend. I care about you and your mother. Tell Keir and run far from here. Don’t be a pawn in someone else’s game."
"Keir doesn’t want me."
"What?"
"He doesn’t want me. I’ve pushed him away. I see him staring at Jasver. Sometimes, I wish the two of them were Soulbonds instead. The Stars made a mistake."
The words shattered over Rin.
She’d never heard of anyone wishing their Soulbond away before.
What if she and Kit had been a mistake? What if instead of being her Soulbond, he was meant to be her enemy? What if the Stars had gotten their bond all wrong?
What was love, really, but a choice?
"Do you love him?" Rin asked softly.
"Keir or Jasver?"
Somehow, that was all the answer Rin needed. "You have feelings for Jasver, too, don’t you?"
"I’d give my life for him—for them both. They don’t need me, though. They’re better off together."
"Tell them, Xara. Love who you want. We’re all destined for the same place."
