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“When my choices are trash, rice which may or may not have been poisoned at this point, or not eating, I’m choosing the last option.”
The smirk slips from his lips as his eyes narrow. “What?”
“What?” I return. “Isn’t this your time to make some dickish remark about how skipping a meal won’t hurt me? That’s the whole point of controlling my food, right?”
The longer I stand here, the less likely it gets that I’m going to make the twenty-minute walk into Keyingham, and I might have told Gemini I’m not eating, but that’s really not my plan. I hoist my bag further up my shoulder and walk away.
Only, as I move away, Gemini grabs my bag, pulling it off my shoulder.
“Give it back.” Everything—everything—of importance is in that bag.
“What do you mean?”
“The bag in your hand,” I say, pointing. “Give. It. Back.”
Gemini shakes his head. “Poisoned rice?”
“Are you kidding?” I ask in disbelief.
“What do you mean?”
“After Lissa dug those waffles out of the trash and tried to force me to eat them, I’m not putting it past her to do something to my rice—assuming the waffles still aren’t waiting for me.” The thought has my stomach twisting uncomfortably again.
“What rice?”
“What do you mean, what rice?” I ask him, thoroughly exasperated. “Syn’s had me eating half a portion of unseasoned, barely-warm, plain boiled rice forweeks.”
He looks at me like, of all the things Syn’s orchestrated,thisis the worst thing. In fact, I’m almost certain he doesn’t believe me. I know Gemini doesn’t tend to eat at the same time as me, but surely, he’s noticed this over the past few weeks?
“Just give me my bag back,” I tell him, already tired of this.
Of course Gemini doesn’t. Instead, with his other hand, he grabs my wrist and pulls me towards the dining hall doors.
“What are you doing?” I try to pull free of his grip. It’s not tight enough to hurt me, but his fingers are locked around me.
He doesn’t stop until we’re at the top table. Neither Syn nor Royal are here yet, but Lissa is, watching me from her position at the back of the room beside Peter.
My heart is pounding, and there’s nothing about this situation that has me trusting anyone in this room, least of all Lissa.
As I’m trying to work out if I can grab my bag from Gemini and make a run for it, Lissa walks over. She ignores me and smiles at Gemini. “Good evening, Gemini. It’s been a while since you’ve been here. Would you like lasagna, Chana Masala, pizza, or yam woon sen?”
Gemini looks at me. “What do you want?”
It’s a trick question.
There is no right answer to this, and even if there was, my throat is so dry that I can’t speak anyway.
When I don’t answer, Gemini looks at Lissa. “Pizza. She will have the pizza.” He quickly glances back at me. “Pepperoni. I’ll have the noodles.
Lissa nods at Gemini, but as she walks away, she shoots me a look that leaves me feeling faint.
Fuck the bag.
I get up, but Gemini shakes his head. “Sit.”
Only because I seem to have lost all strength, I drop back down onto the cold metal seat, readjusting my legs so that if I need to try to make a quick exit, I’m not tangled up with the table legs.
Gemini goes to sit at his spot, taking my bag with him. He puts it on the floor beside his feet with his own, like it’s an afterthought, and he doesn’t really know he’s got it at all.
