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Zie laughs. “Is this a joke?”
“No joke.”
“But like, aren’t you guys too old to have more kids?”
“Worried about having to share your inheritance, son?”
“No. But it would have been nice to know I have a sister!” Zie cries, banging his fist down on the table. I jump and the action presses me further into The General’s touch.
Thank god we haven’t eaten yet. I’m barely holding on to what little’s in my stomach as it is.
“Well, I guess I should say half sister. Your mother, it turns out, is too old to have more children. I am not.” He sounds so smug that bile burns my throat.
“So you what? Got a surrogate? Cheated on mum?”
“Proceeded to secure another Montgomery child with her blessing.”
“Why?”
“Ever heard of the saying an heir and a spare?”
“Are you anticipating that something might happen to me?”
It’s fleeting, but I feel The General’s eyes flick to me. I’m so attuned to his every move now - a necessity of surviving - that I don’t even have to have eyes on him to feel his on me.
“Third year at Trinity College can be exceptionally…dangerous. Especially this year in particular.”
The General is speaking about the Hunting Grounds, his voice is so callous and cold that my heart pangs for Zie.
“You don’t expect me to win,” Zie says flatly.
“Well, you’ve never been much of anything…except a disappointment. I don’t see why this new set of challenges would be any different.”
Just then the conversation is interrupted by the arrival of the servers with our starters. Everyone waits in silence for them to leave. I glance at my plate and my stomach flips. I can’t eat.
I can’t stay in The General's company. But I can’t leave either. The things he might reveal…I can’t.
“Odi,” Axel clears his throat and I glance at him gratefully. “Why isn’t your mother here tonight? I bet she would be so proud to see you at Trinity.”
Doesn’t he know? No, Axel knows everything. Is he being deliberately cruel? Why would he do that, tonight of all nights, when it’s all about pretending for the sake of the past?
“She hasn’t told you?” The General cuts in before I can reply.
“Told us what?” Axel’s question is sharper than a knife.
“Little flower?” All eyes fall on me, the weight of their expectation crushing me. “Oh, that reminds me, I have something for you. With the house being gone, I guess they had no way of passing this on to you, so it’s been in my care for a while now.”
The General clicks his fingers and somewhere from behind him one of his security personnel steps forward and hands him a cardboard box. He reaches over and removes my untouched plate, dropping the box in its place.
“What’s going on?” Axel demands.
“I’m surprised she didn’t tell you, what with you all being so close.” He knows. Our ruse here tonight isn’t fooling anyone. “Odile’s mother passed away.”
“What?” Zie gasps.
“When?” Kaiden demands.
“Oh quite some time ago,” The General replies loftily. Fuck him. Every carefully chosen word is dropped like a carelessly tossed grenade, but hits with the precision of a sniper rifle full of exploding bullets. Maximum damage with minimum effort.
