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“Because there won’t be much chance for enjoyment in the future.”
There’s something about this — that same tight inflection in his matter-of-fact tone — that really does make me acknowledge him.
My eyes narrow at him. “What are you talking about?”
“Things are going to get bad, little saint.” He cocks a brow at me, a cruel smile tugging at his lips. “Soon you may end up the very opposite of a saint. Because I see what you’re doing.” Amusement shines across Rory’s face. “You’ve started it, set a wheel in motion. You and your ritual. I see the game that you’re playing, little saint, with those who are stupid enough to believe it. It’s all going to backfire on you horribly.” He doesn’t sound particularly upset about this.
I feel seen. Noticed. Wrong all over. Can it be true? Have I started something I shouldn’t have with all the lies I’ve told?
Quickly, I replay it all in my head — I haven’t lied to everyone, only to the girls in a petty act of revenge. Arabella I told nothing, Dr. Moncrieff got the crest stuff, Freya’s story was a lie, Li’s was a lie, and the less said about what I poured out to Finlay the better.
“If you thought I’d mess it up, then maybe you shouldn’t have picked me to do it.”
Rory’s gray eyes glitter in the dark. “I wanted to see if youwoulddo it. I thought you could handle it. You disappointed me.”
There’s no reason for these words, for hisopinion, to make me feel so deflated. But those three words —you disappointed me— are enough for me to drop my gaze like I’ve done something wrong.
He has no idea what I saw in the forest.
“My girlfriend’s going to be severely pissed off with you.”
Rory says it so nonchalantly, so casually, and yet it’s like he’s tossed a blade at my knees, cutting me down in one fell swoop.
“Your girlfriend?” I whisper.
“Mmm.”
“Li?”
His mouth stretches. “Mmm.”
“But… I thought you hated girls.” I don’t know why that’s what comes out of my mouth, but it does.
Rory laughs hollowly. “Cute that you always seem to believe that, little saint. It’s basically misandry at this point.” His eyes glitter at me. “How many times do you need to be told the contrary?”
However many times it takes you to stop being a misogynistic asshole.
But then I realize… Rory hasn’t really done anything to provoke the other girls.
Only me.
Maybe Li’s been telling him to back off from her friends. If she’s his confidante, the one who’s free to whisper things into Rory’s ear, then suddenly she holds a lot more power than I gave her credit for.
I swallow. “What do you mean, she’s going to be pissed off?”
“When she finds out you lied to her.” As he leans back onto the plinth, he turns his head in my direction. “Why do you think people are so willing to believe you, little saint?” He gives me a moment to think about this before answering for me. “Because you’re not one of us. They don’t think you’re smart enough to lie, to play games.” His smile remains fixed in place. “They desperately want to believe you’re a saint, so that the goodness of humanity doesn’t rest with privileged game-players like us.” With a derisive laugh, he adds, “We checked ourselves out ofthatparticular life path long ago.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Maybe not now. But you will in time. You will, the moment it all comes crashing down around you.” His smile is eerie in the morning darkness. “You either play the game well, or you don’t play it at all.”
I want to rub my hands across my face. But there are other ways to bring the Prime Minister’s son down a peg or twenty. “Don’t you want to know what I saw in the ritual?”
He actually laughs, his chest undulating from the force. “I’m not stupid, Jessa. At least pick your opponents wisely.”
There’s something about Rory’s easiness that rattles me.
As I head back to the castle, he’s all I can think about.
Why does he make me feel like I’ve made a massive mistake?
