“...Sacrifice the one, deny the four, kneel the Sentinels, the eight to fight.”
Hart has been suspicious of Bizzy, convinced she’s become a distraction. Elizabeth Timms fits the fragmented dreams I’ve had. The bracelet seals it. Only something isn’t right.
New fear unlocked… opening my heart to someone likely to destroy us. All of us.
The noose the House of Eights has around my neck just grows tighter.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Bizzy (Elizabeth)
Siler has been on the bench for most of the game, only entering for one play. As each minute ticks by, his head hangs lower. I’m watching him intently when his cousin taps me on the shoulder.
“Come with me,” she orders.
All our companions look at her in alarm.
She hasn’t said a word to me the entire drive or most of the game.
“Be right back,” I say quietly. My heart is a flopping fish. It doesn’t matter that the medication change has given me a reprieve; she has me shaking as I follow her out of the auditorium.
I’m not prepared when she spins around to face me, arms crossed, the tendons in her neck sticking out. “E-fucking-nough. What are you doing? You gave Liz the bracelet Siler gifted you? Are you literally brain-dead?”
My mouth drops open, but no words come out.
Pacing in front of me, she pulls her hair into a ponytail in angry jerks. “First you befriend her, now you give her the bracelet. It’s like you’re determined to-”
“Don’t be daft.” Deo walks around me. “Bizzy, please excuse Mya, her blood sugar must be low. She’s making no sense. We’ll just go find her something to nosh on.”
She lights into him as he steers her away.
I don’t regret getting rid of the bracelet. When I realized on our drive that Jen gave it to her after she and Rett broke up, it didn’t bother me at all.
Now I’m wondering if I should’ve tossed it at the airport. It’s a beautiful piece of jewelry, no denying that, but I can barely stand to look at it.
On top of Siler being on the bench, his team may lose since they’re down fifteen points. She’ll tell him I gave his gift away, and it’s the last thing I want.
To make our visit uncomfortable and contentious.
What if it’s the last time?
JJ comes to find me as I walk back into the game. “Do you want to talk about whatever that was?”
“Mya isn’t happy with me. She’s just protecting her cousin.”
Thankfully, JJ doesn’t press me on it, taking my hand and walking me back to our seats with a faint smile.
By the looks of it, things aren’t going well back in the stands either. Jen is crying, Liz looks tired, and Rett is sitting as far from Jen as he can. I’d hoped this road trip to see Siler would be fun.
Silly me.
Duke University loses by twenty points to West Point Academy. Not that we paid much attention once we were back in our seats. Jen wouldn’t stop talking about Rett “ignoring” her, but with his sweatshirt hood pulled up, he spent most of the game drifting in and out of sleep because of his cold meds.
Now we’re on our way to the house we'll be staying in overnight. The shuffle into Deo’s Range Rover puts me in the middle seats with Jen and Siler, and Liz next to JJ. The hug I get from Siler is reassuring. I was worried he’d let the game ruin our time together.
Good God, I’ve missed him.
Highfair Estate, owned by the Abbott family, is maintained by their aunt. It’s located on the Hudson River, half an hour north of West Point. The main house is an impressive Colonial Revival-style manor, but it’s the stables and grounds that make me want to wander and soak it all in.
