Page 39 of Divine Oaths

“What are you implying?” he said.

“You tell me,” I said. “You don’t want him to inherit the school. Isn’t that why you hired Jojo to come back here?”

Kasem grabbed me by my wrist, pulling me away from Alaster.

“What are you doing?” he said.

“I—I—” Words escaped me, and I felt acutely as if I’d unlocked a door that had been meant to be sealed.

“What happened to Kasem in that alley doesn’t concern you, Sianna,” Jojo said, stepping forward. “Don’t make our family’s troubles your own. Whatever he’s offering you to make these claims, it won’t be worth it.”

I stared at him in disbelief. He was speaking of the money I’d taken from the alleyway, as if I’d lie about what I’d seen so far at Westfield and what I witnessed in the vision because of it.

“He’s right,” Kasem said. “This doesn’t concern you.”

I spun to face him, anger and betrayal coursing through me. “You keep saying that,” I said. “But then why did you ask for my help back then? Why would you even bring me into this if you’re just going to pretend like I’m the one intruding on your little dysfunctional family?”

Kasem looked away, unable to meet my gaze. “You shouldn’t have come,” he said. “I didn’t think you would.”

Before I could respond, Alaster stepped forward.

“This is my fault. I should have realized. There are always students like her at Westfield every year. Students desperate to attach their names to a Saint James.” He turned, this time to face me before looking to his father and then Kasem. “She told me that you attacked her in the maze. And now she’s accusing me of trying to harm you. I believed her. I see now that I was wrong to do so. Forgive me, cousin.”

“That’s a lie,” I said. “You know that’s not what this is. You were trying to blackmail me.”

“Every accusation is an admission of guilt,” Alaster said, his voice somber, as if he was pained that I had even managed to defend myself. “And as the rumor mill has been suggesting, you were involved in the stabbing that nearly killed my dear cousin. It’s all over the tabloids and online. What was your stage name again—the Little Music Girl?”

He was baiting me, dangling the very reason I’d come to Westfield and threatening to expose it.

At his desk, the president rubbed his forehead.

“These rhymes of yours have always tested my patience, Alaster. You as well, Kasem.” He sighed. “But just so I understand, this girl lied to you that Kasem attacked her in the courtyard during orientation, and that’s why you brought us here.”

“Yes, President Saint James,” Alaster said.

“I never lied,” I said. “It wasn’t Kasem. But there was another man in the woods… he had no pupils and he…” But it was pointless. I couldn’t explain what had really happened now. Alaster had cornered me. I’d fallen into his trap, and now the game was over. “What I mean is, I got lost in the maze. I thought I saw something—someone. I got caught in one of the hedges and Kasem fished me out.”

“Jojo, is it as you witnessed?” the president asked.

“From what I can tell, yes. It is,” Jojo said.

The president turned next to Angelica. “And does this story match what she told you?”

Angelica nodded. “It does,” she said. “Though I will say, if Sianna is claiming she saw something, it’s by all means no fault of her own.”

She didn’t say it outright, but the meaning behind her words was clear. My medical records. My visions and hallucinations. They were using it against me. Like every school, hospital, and institution always had.

The president gave me a pitying look. They all did. Except for Kasem. He wasn’t looking at me at all, but instead faced away from me.

“I rescheduled an important meeting for this,” the president said.

Alaster bristled. “Again, I apologize, President. It won’t happen again.”

“No,” the president said. “No, it won’t.” Rage seeped from every word he spoke, and the look he gave his son turned my blood cold. “You said Kasem was too early in his career to be in the accelerated graduate program. You say he isn’t fit to take over the Westfield inheritance. If that’s so, what sorry excuse does that make you?”

Alaster clenched his fist. The tension in the room now was between the two of them.

“Out,” Provost Henning said. “Everyone out, now.”