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Noent very stil"Why? You planning on tel ing Daddy?"

I scowled, even though I knew he couldn't see me "No, the cone of silence has firht I justthey think you're the only one That's why they're so gung ho about kil ing you"It alsobirthday gift, another Eye ht have Yay for more complications

"There aren't many, but they're out there Who do you think told us you were at Shel ey's that night?"

Wel , that certainly ,"I said

He started walking again, holding a branch out of the way so I could duck under it "Simon trained me as a warlock and as an Eye, and I spent su, attack "

"No wonder you always kickedfor ways to get into Hex Hal for years, but the screening process for teachers was too intense, and they didn't have any Eyes young enough to get in as students Until ym invisible Bam, instant ticket to Hecate"

"What did they want you to do there?"

"Nothing as awful as you're probably thinking Listen, mostly Observe and report back"He stopped and turned around Even though I couldn't see his face, I kneas studying me "This is weird,"he said "I've never said this stuff out loud to anyone before"

"That's because I' a demon compulsion spel on you"

"Seriously?"

"No, you dork So keep going What about Hol y and Elodie?"And h I didn't say it, I could feel the words hanging in the air around us

"The betrothal with Hol y was al aboveboard Sied it"He took a couple of steps back, and I heard a faint ainst a tree "It was part of my cover, but I liked her She eet Quiet It's not like we had this great love or anything, and I obviously had no intention of actual ytime with her Elodie was a different story, especial y after what she did to Hol y"

"So when you left Hex Hal after Hol y died, that wasn't because you were the grief-stricken fiance You were going back to The Eye"

"Yeah I told theht Elodie and her coven had raised a deet close to her, see as real y going on"

"And you decided to get really close to her"

He laughed softly "I can't see you, but I have a feeling you're cute when you're jealous, Mercer"

Crossing my ar, it's disgust You dated a girl you didn't even like just to get inforhter died, and his voice sounded weary when he said, "Trust me, a lot of my brothers have done much worse"

There was so much more I wanted to ask hi the sharing stick or whatever Tiet al Mata Hari onpause before he answered "I was supposed to watch you, yeah They thought it eird that Atherton would send his own kid to Hecate, so anted to keep an eye on you No pun intended"

He kept doing that, using "we"and "they"interchangeably when he was talking about The Eye Not like I could bla al schizo It had to be bizarre to live two lives for as long as he had

He pushed himself away froet , Mercer, I like you You're s incident aside, pretty kick-ass at ic And it's not like you're hard to look at"

"Be stilheart"

Chapter 16

"But to answer your question, no part of the Archer Cross you knew at Hecate exists That day in the cel ar, I kissed you back because it was my job to stay close to you If that's where you wanted to take things, then that's where I was going to go I kissed you because I had to Not exactly the hardest assignn his words like blows,But it wasn't what he said that made me feel like I'd been punched in the chest

It's that I kneas lying That speech came out way too quickly and way too s it in his head The sa what I'd say to hiin to handle that right now, so instead I just said, "Okay, then Yay for honesty Now that we're done with the confessional part of the evening, why don't you tel me e're here"

There was another pause, then he started walking again I fol owed, leaves crunching under my feet

"Like I said, Hecate Hal has always ic to plaid?"

I thought he h, but instead, he said, "Think about it, Mercer One place where Prodigium round up their most powerful members? Don't tel me that's not suspicious"

That had never occurred to iant screwups, but in a way, Archer was right We'd al been sentenced to Hex Hal because of spel s that were powerful and dangerous I thought of Cal saying I created "too big"Wasn't that what just about everyone at Hecate had done?

Stil , the idea that the place I'd cal ed home for nearly a year was actual y so to say the least

"Hecate isn't like that,"I said weakly, almost more to myself than to him