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“I don’t need to speak to you, Olympia. I got your message at dawn. Loud and clear,” she growled, unsheathing a dagger from her waist.
“What message?”
My heart leapt into my throat as she angled the weapon in my direction, that devilish gleam rife in her eye. Breath fled my lungs as the dagger flew towards me with a flick of her fingers, glinting mercilessly in the noon sun. I reared back onto the seat.
“Recognize that?”
I stared at the dagger lodged in the rug between my feet, fighting the hard gusts of panicked breaths that threatened to overwhelm me. At least all my limbs were still in place—but I wasn’t sure for how long.
“What the hell, Zo! You could’ve killed me,” I protested. “Stop this rubbish and untie me!”
“Shouting will get you nowhere.”
Zoei’s features tightened with the stubbornness I knew all too well.
“Then what will?” I demanded. “I’m not feeling toocalmafter being assaulted by thugs and thrown around with a sack over my head.”
“Is that all they did?” she scoffed. “I told them to rough you up.”
“Why the hell would you tell them to do that?” My voice rose another notch. “You’re insane!”
“I’minsane?” she shot back, prowling forward with a shimmering aura of bright, bloody red. “I’m insane to want justice for an attempt on my life?”
“What attempt on your life?” I sputtered, pulling on the cords that bound me. “You seemed fine when we parted ways last night.”
She grabbed the back of my neck, forcing my gaze to hers. Her grip was hot, almost scorching, belying the anger that coursed through her blood.
Every part of her was ablaze with fury. It was as if a storm had erupted within, and I found myself caught in its path. The air seemed to grow heavier, suffused with the heat.
“That wasbeforeI knew you were cowardly enough to send an assassin to end my life,” she rasped. The accusation hung in the air like an unspoken verdict, and the room seemed to grow colder as the words settled between us. “Maybe Iaminsane to expect anything but disappointment from you, Olympia.”
The words were meant to bruise, and they did, landing like blows on my chest.
Her fingers fisted in my hair, tugging hard. Pain radiated from my scalp as she pulled on it forcefully, snapping my head back at an odd angle.
“You disgust me.”
Her words sliced through the air, each syllable heavy with contempt.
“You’re pathetic,” she spat, her face twisting cruelly. “If you wanted to kill me, you should’ve slid the knife across my throat yourself.Coward.”
I felt my jaw working against the tight hold of her grip, trying to form the right response.
I had done nothing to feel like a pathetic coward, yet I couldn’t fight the venom behind her words. The weight of her blame pressed down on me, even though I was baffled by her accusations.
The fact that I had no idea what she was talking about seemed inconsequential. In her blazing eyes, I was already guilty, a convenient scapegoat for the events that had transpired without my knowledge.
When she released the hold on my hair, I fell backwards, landing with a thump on the loveseat. The dagger glinted in the sun, splitting the rug down the middle. I stared at it for long moments, a reminder of the shattered friendship I had with Zoei.
When I looked up again, I thought I saw a flicker of regret pass through their eyes. But it was fleeting, replaced by a steely resolve.
I was flung from my seat like a ragdoll, my back hitting the wall with a sickening thud.
I can’t let her push me around.
I just… can’t.
In the tussle, I focused on the rope that bound my wrists, detecting the natural fibers that twined together. I reached out with my powers, tugging at them, just as she shoved me back against the wall again.
