Epilogue
ORION
She’s not anywhere.
Lex and I scan the school, high and low, and while some people saw her around, no one can tell us where she is now.
“She was at the dorms,” some dude I can’t remember his name says. “With your adviser.” He nods at Lex.
Lex’s face hardens. I don’t need to ask if he knows what Cillian was doing with Sable to realize that he doesn’t. We would never trust anyone besides us five to take care of her. Fuck, it’s still hard to trust Hadrian, but I need to let the old grievances go.
Lex leads the way, but I’m on his heels. This is the first clue we’ve gotten. I'd love to press Soren for answers, but he’s nowhere to be seen, and I’m already blowing up his phone.
“Maybe they’re just fucking somewhere,” I say out loud.
“Cillian and Sable?” The words are a roar ripping from Lex’s throat.
“No, fuckface.” I roll my eyes. “Soren and Sable. They left together this morning.”
“Oh yeah, maybe,” he agrees.
But we don’t find Soren, and instead start searching for Cillian. I know deep down something is up. I keep my fears to myself, unable to make them into words. It’s just a sense that everything is wrong that comes from being a twin. I follow Lex into the hall until we reach Cillian’s office.
I’m never on this side of the academy. I’m not a med student, and the idea that Lex is rooting through a corpse is too disgusting to even entertain.
For the man who was trusted with watching Lex Morwen, Cillian’s office is just a small room at the edge of the department, as small as a janitor’s closet.
“Cillian,” Lex announces our arrival.
The man lifts his eyes from the paperwork spread over his desk. His eyebrows lift as if he’s surprised by our presence, but something about his expression rubs me the wrong way.
“To what do I owe the honor, Morwen?” Cillian asks, eyes darting between Lex and me.
“People saw you walking around with Sable by the dorms,” Lex drags out, voice devoid of any emotion. Lex never shows his hand. “And now the Offering is missing.”
“Sable is missing?” Cillian sits up, eyebrows frowning.
“That’s what I said.”
“I saw her around, yes, she asked me to show her the way to the dorms, told me you guys asked her to go. But I left her there. I don’t know what happened after.”
My hand balls into a fist, and I shake my head. “Why would Sable want to go to the dorms?”
“She told me to find you guys.”
“And you believed her?” Lex laughs. “When was I ever caught in the dorms?”
“Hey.” Cillian lifts his palms in surrender. “I wasn’t going to call the girl a liar. I just showed her the way.”
“He’s lying,” I tell Lex, unable to keep the words in any longer.
“Calm down, Orion,” Lex says, his hand raising to hold me.
“Why would Cillian fuck with me? He knows better than that.” Cillian snorts and shakes his head.
From here, he doesn’t look smart. I almost sniff the jealousy and resentment he feels toward Lex.
Everyone but him knows this guy is scum.
I’ve been around this school for a long time, and I know I couldn’t trust anyone but the four idiots.
And that’s why I fucking hate Hadrian. I still trust him more than a jealous asshole like Cillian.
“I wouldn’t dare mess with the four families. My family has always served the Morwens.”
His voice drips with sarcasm. I’m vibrating to punch him, make sure the Rook crest is tattooed forever in his cheek from the ring I proudly wear. Lex pushes me out the door.
“Come on, let’s keep looking.”
His eyes pin Cillian as we leave the office.
“You know he’s lying,” I rage, shaking from head to toe.
“Yes,” Lex says slowly. “But now is not the time to deal with Cillian. I don’t know yet what is happening or why he’s lying, but we need to find Sable.”
I text Parker and Hadrian, updating them and telling them to meet us in the room.
“Tell me what you’re thinking, Lex.” I don’t like the plea in my voice, but I’d rather him see me vulnerable than the others.
He’s the one who gets me. I need Lex to be a calculating motherfucker because I can’t stop thinking about losing Sable.
The threat of loss hits me right in the heart, a sharp dagger taking my breath away.
I never wanted to keep anything as much as I want to keep her.
I made sure to never care too deeply about this because, at the end of the day, everything could be taken from me.
We arrive at the bedroom, and the door is slightly open when it wasn’t before.
It’s a punch to my fucking throat. Hope grows, and I think I’m about to see her beautiful blond hair cascading down her back, her perfume thick in the air, but it all comes crashing down when I push the door open, and it’s just my brother waiting.
Alone.
He looks like hell—shirt open, hair disheveled, and red eyes, sitting on her bed. A stone blocks the air coming to my lungs, and I can’t talk. I know something is so fucking wrong, but for the first time, I don’t want to know.
“Where’s Sable, Soren?” Lex asks when I fail to.
My brother blinks at us. Something is going on behind his eyes, and this time, I don’t know what it is.
“She’s gone.” His voice cracks. It’s hollow and barely makes it to the surface.
“How did that happen, Soren?” Lex presses, his eyes narrowing.
His eyes dart from Lex to me. My silence is unusual, and he knows he shouldn’t trust it. Soren shakes his head, words failing him as if it’s too difficult for him to admit what happened. My eyes move around her room, and I see a lot of things missing. Things she must have taken with her.
“You let her go,” I say, knowing without a doubt it’s true.
He nods.
Pain and betrayal drown me. There’s not enough air in the room.
My brother just took the only soft thing I had, so everything left is rage.
It comes in a suffocating strength, and before I make the decision, my feet eat the space between us.
I push him flat against the bed, pinning him with my hand at his throat.
My own face stares back at me, and fuck him for that.
His eyes are bloodshot, his jaw set, and for the first time in our lives, he doesn’t try to defend himself.
My eyes dart to every feature that mirrors mine, and I ask the only thing I want to know.
The word burns on its way out, ending our already difficult relationship. “Why?”