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She looks down at her food

"I’ve always been able to manipulate people Men, wo wound, Darro and bloody despite the fact it has been two years since you killed Julian I saw it in hiave him someone to ould listen, someone ould fill the void"

The sternness in her voice fades She looks around as if she could escape the conversation she started If she stopped, I would be happier for it

"I made him think he could not live withoutthat could keep the rest of my house safe I kneas the best weapon I could wield in this game Yet … I felt so cold So horrible Like I was the cruel witch snaring Odysseus,hiical And when he put his ar Like I was lost, suffocating under the weight of all I’d done, suffocating knowing there was a life ahead of me with someone I did not love

"Yet it was for family It was for the people I love even if they don’t deserve it Many have sacrificed more I could sacrifice that" She shakes her head, the tears that build therethose that well in my own eyes They fall when she says, "Then you walked in at the gala, and … and it was like the ground had broken open to s irl who’d contrived a reason to do so stupid" She tries to wipe her eyes "Can’t you see why I did it? I didn’t want you to die I don’t want you to die Not liketo stop it"

"I can stop it"

"You’re not invincible, Darrow I know you think you are But one day you’ll find out you aren’t as strong as you think you are, and I’ll be alone"

She goes silent as all that has welled up inside her breaks loose She does not sob But the tears come She’s the type of woman to be embarrassed by them

It breaks me to see this

"You are not wicked," I say as I take her hand into pull away I take her jaeen the fingers of ht hand and bend her head till her eyes find a home in ed Do you understand?" I deepen my voice "Do you understand?"

She nods

It should not be this way The Golds have everything, yet they demand sacrifices even from their own This place is sick This erily as it does the paupers who irl I buried I will not let it devour her I will not let it devour my family in Lykos I will break it

I wipe the tears from her face with my thumb She is different from them And when she tries to do as they do, it cracks her heart to the core Looking at her, I knorong She is not a distraction She does not compromise my mission She is the point of it all Yet I cannot kiss her Not nohen I must break her heart to break this empire It would not be fair I’ve fallen in love with her, but she’s fallen for a lie

"You can’t trust him," she says quietly

"Who?" I ask, startled by her sudden words