Chapter 33 Thou Shalt Not Stand in the Lair of Liars
Thou Shalt Not Stand in the Lair of Liars
Arwen
Irun. The words I overheard in the Greed tower keep playing in my head, twisting tighter with every step: “She’s in my pocket…”
I stick to the shadows as I move across the main courtyard back to my dorm, skirting around staff patrols and flickering lights. I can’t—I won’t—be stopped. The council’s judgment… If I stay, I die.
By the time I reach my dorm, my heart is hammering against my ribs. My brain is working overtime to come up with any type of plan.
Now is not the time to let my emotions overtake me. Now is the time for action.
Holly is asleep on her bed in the same clothes from earlier, snoring loudly. Thank the universe for tequila. She doesn’t wake as I slip inside, silent as a ghost. To survive, I need to leave. Right now. I’m out of options.
Tossing the heels and the skirts to the side, I throw almost all of my clothes into the largest bag I can find.
My hands shake as I shove in soap, some dried fruit that I’ve stored, and a small water bottle.
Nothing here feels like enough, but it’s all I have.
My thick coat lands on top. I’ll need it outside the academy grounds.
I look at my phone. It would be so helpful, but the thought of the council tracking me is worse. I decide to leave it.
I dig through my nightstand and pull out the bracelet that Brix gave me. That charm may come in handy. My stomach sinks as I think of the sweet moment when Brix gave it to me.
Shaking the thoughts away, I grab my packed bag. There’s no time for sentimental thoughts… or regrets.
Pausing at the door, I take one last look at Holly’s sleeping form and know this is for the best. I’m only bringing them down too. This is it- I wish I could say goodbye.
I turn the handle and walk out, accepting that this is now my fate. It’s time to disappear.
***
Alexi
Ryker makes a joke as his followers all laugh along, passing a bottle as they continue to get more inebriated. I force myself to smile, to shake my head and laugh right along with them, to pretend like I belong.
My jaw aches from the effort. It feels like a blade is dragging across raw nerves the longer I am here. I might be in his circle, but I know I don’t have enough to actually be one of them.
The pain in my chest is still there—sharp, like a butcher’s knife hacked straight through me. I could feel her familiar faint tug when she was close and the emotional outburst from the bond soon after.
I felt it the moment she did. When she realized the truth. Her confusion and disbelief, followed by her Wrath anger that burns so hot, I swear it could’ve melted me from the inside. And then…the crumbling. Despair so painful, it was almost impossible to keep my composure. I deserve it.
She’s so close. I wish I could go to her, throw it all away and gather her up and promise she isn’t alone. Every part of me screams to do it. To hold her until the bond stops bleeding between us.
But I can’t. They can’t know. For her sake, for mine, for the fragile lie that keeps us both breathing. If Ryker even suspected…
So I sit in the glow of Ryker’s triumph, smelling the stink of his assumed victory.
My nails biting into my palms. This is a good thing.
It hurts, but she needed to see. I tried to risk it before, tried to tell her, but she needed facts.
Probably rightfully so after I broke her trust. She needed the truth cut into her so she could stop before Ryker took full control.
She’s clever. Stronger than she believes. She’ll get over this betrayal and be better for it.
So me—I’ll stay right where I am, choking on laughter that isn’t mine, pretending my heart isn’t breaking right alongside hers.
***
Arwen
I slip out into the night, keeping to the long route around the academy through the quiet paths of the sparring grounds. The silence out here is strange, almost soothing under the thin wash of moonlight, like the whole place is holding its breath with me.
I don’t let myself linger. I can’t. If I stop, I’ll think, and if I think, I’ll freeze.
The woods rise ahead, dark and breathing. The air smells of earth and frost, of freedom and danger in equal measure.
I head straight in. Academy Hollow isn’t far if I cut through the forest. If I’m lucky, I can grab supplies and figure out my next step before anyone realizes I’m gone.
And they will realize.
But for once, I’m not waiting for someone else to save me. I’m moving. Planning. Choosing my next breath, my next step, my own damn fate.
Trees rise like dark sentinels around me. Daunting. But I’m not afraid of some trees. The branches scrape my coat and slap me in the face. Each step adds to my rage, fueling my movement forward.
Twigs snap under my boots as I push deeper into the woods—probably just the local creatures protesting that I’ve crashed their peaceful privacy. It’s dark, but the moonlight dripping through the canopy is enough to keep me moving without smashing into a tree. Small victories.
My bag keeps bouncing against my hip, snagging on every thorny vine the forest can throw at me.
I force my breathing to steady, counting each inhale like I’m trying to wrestle my own lungs into behaving.
One. Two. Three. I need my head clear. Everything else—fear, betrayal, the sting of Ryker’s voice—I shove into a mental box and slam the lid shut. Survival first. Feelings later. Maybe.
Leaves rustle to my right, too close for comfort. My heart stops and I freeze, listening. Guards? Already?
…Nothing pops out. Probably a raccoon. Or a fox. Fantastic. I’m out here jumping at woodland critters. Sadie would roast me for eternity.
The thought of her steals my focus away, and I trip over a root and eat dirt. My palms scrape against pebbles, and I wipe them on my coat, cursing the universe like it personally shoved me. Fine. physical pain is a distraction I can use.
***
Professor Nikolai Gabriel
I run my fingers over the worn leather of her last book, the one she turned in only yesterday. A simple gesture, one that looks absentminded, but the pulse of the charm I wove into its spine hums against my hand. Illegal but necessary.
The small relic on my desk quivers and glows faintly, the tiny glow darting across the map of the grounds. Too fast. Too erratic. Where are you going, little sinless?
I knew the moment she slipped into the Greed Dorms something was off. She never goes there. When the relic raced back to her dorm, lingered, and then began its careful, stumbling movement toward the outskirts of campus, I knew exactly what she was doing. She was running.
The phone rings in my ear. They had better answer fast. I have to make this quick.
“Why are you calling?” a whisper, wary, hesitant.
“We have an emergency,” I murmur, voice low, steady. My eyes never leave the glowing speck. “We have to move the timeline up.”
There’s a pause, then a skeptical reply: “Okay… to when?”
“Right now,” I say confidently. I have to maintain my composure. They need to be sure that we have this under control.
“What?” the voice on the other line hisses. “Are you insane? We can’t! We don’t have the people; we’re not prepared. Who authorized this?”
“We don’t have a choice,” I cut them off, voice hard as iron.
“She’s on the move. Headed your way. I can’t leave—it would be too suspicious.
No one has noticed she’s gone. Once she crosses the wards, I expect you three can handle her.
” I lean back in my chair, watching the speck flicker ever closer to the border.
“She’s sinless, for universe sake. And alone. What are you afraid of?”
“You and I both know what she could be capable of…” the other voice says, low and cryptic, each word laced with warning.
I grit my teeth. “Do you want to be the one to tell him we lost her?”
Silence stretches, heavy enough to smother. I can hear the faint hiss of their breath on the other end, stalling, calculating.
Finally, the voice returns, curt and resigned. “Call us when you have a better idea of where she’ll exit the wards.”
The line goes dead.
***
Arwen
Hours… or minutes… or maybe entire lifetimes crawl by. Time doesn’t exist out here except for the moon inching along like it’s in no hurry to save me. The woods feel endless, swallowing me whole, shadows stretching like they’re waiting to drag me under.
The darkness thickens the deeper I go. Powers would be amazing right now—just one tiny spark, one little supernatural flashlight maybe?
But no. I’m stuck relying on the creek’s whisper, the tilt of the ground, the moon’s halfhearted glow. I let my instincts carry me forward.
Every sound feels louder—crunching brush, shifting branches, my own ragged breathing.
Holly, Tabby, Cleo flicker through my mind. Sadie. Sly. Brix. People I’ll never see again. Something hot slips down my cheek before I can stop it—a stupid, traitorous tear. I bite the inside of my lip so hard it stings.
No. Not now. Tears won’t save me. Escape will. Survival doesn’t wait for tears. Survival doesn’t care about heartbreak or betrayal.
I have to be getting close to Academy Hollow. I have to. But the panic twisting in my gut won’t let me believe it. If I’m lucky, I’ll hit the outskirts soon—grab supplies, find some hole to hide in, breathe for two seconds.
If I’m unlucky… Well, the universe and I both know where it likes to place its bets.
***
Atticus
I jolt upright, breath dragging in as though I’ve surfaced from drowning. Sweat slicks my skin, cold against the heat burning beneath it. My pulse hammers far too fast, and for a moment the room tilts.
I’m on my feet before thought even catches up, flicking on the light, scanning every shadow as if an intruder might dare step foot into my space.
Nothing. Just silence. Empty air.
Yet my chest feels as if it’s splitting open, something feral trying to claw its way out. The bond pain has been excruciating these past months, but this—this is a different breed entirely. Sharper. Dire.