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“Plenty. Most provided by you, such as my ability to enter and capture dreams, as well as my relationship with my infamous mother. None of this is a shock for you, so you can stop pretending to be surprised.“

“But I’m not pretending,” Darius said. “I swear I had nothing to do with it. I wouldn’t turn you in, not after everything. I’ve been trying to help you.” He tried to take my hand but I yanked away from his grip.

“You call turning in your notebook of suspicionshelping? It was all the Council needed to banish me like you’ve always wanted.”

Darius’s face darkened. “What notebook?”

I could barely think straight through my hurricane of emotion. “Stop toying with me; its spiderweb style was as good as your signature.”

His eyes hardened. “I didn’t turn that notebook in, not when I promised I wouldn’t. But since my word evidently means nothing, I’ll prove it.” He looked through his bag, and after a moment of rummaging, he started searching frantically. “Where is it?”

“Oh, how convenient you’ve suddenly lost it,” Stardust said dryly. “This just proves you handed it over to the Council. It’s as good as a signed confession.”

Her commentary would only make this already trying confrontation more difficult. I turned to her. “Can you give us a moment alone?”

She frowned in clear reluctance before slowly floating away, far enough to give us some privacy, but close enough to watch Darius through narrowed, suspicious eyes. He seemed unfazed by her scrutiny as he stepped closer, his gaze imploring.

“I didn’t give the Council my notebook. Even if they got hold of it somehow, there’s no way they could have read it without me opening it.”

I glared at him. “Exactly.”

“But I swear I didn’t, I—”

“Just stop it.” Didn’t he realize how deeply his pretending hurt me? “This has all been a twisted game to you. All you care about is yourself.”

“That’s not true,” he said desperately. “I care about you. I could never hurt you considering how I feel towards you.”

My heart ached to open itself up to his words, but I’d stopped trusting him, the wounds from his betrayal too deep, and the feelings I’d previously yearned to hear from him now felt poisonous. The Darius I’d grown to care for hadn’t been real, and I’d been a fool allowing myself to become caught in his carefully spun web.

“Eden.”

He stepped closer and cupped my chin. I shivered at his touch but couldn’t pull away, despite the pain his proximity brought me. Tears burned my eyelids and he gently wiped them away with his thumb. The sweetness of the gesture stabbed my already fragile heart.

“I’ll go to the Council, explain that my findings were inconclusive and that I lied about everything, whatever it takes. I don’t know how they got my notebook, but I swear to you I’ll find out.”

I ached to believe him, that the sincerity filling his eyes was real. “Why?” I whispered. “Why would you care what happens to me?”

He caressed my cheek. “Because I can’t reside in that world without you.”

A strange warmth surged through me that almost extinguished the hot fury and intense pain raging inside of me.

“Don’t you sense it?” he whispered. “Can’t you feel the connection between us, drawing us together? Don’t you think of me as often as I think of you? You never leave my thoughts. The only explanation I can think of—the one I’m hoping to be true…” His cheeks darkened and he looked away.

My heart beat like a supernova in my chest. His implication was one I’d often pondered, even if I’d never put my secret wish into words lest it shatter any possibility of it being true…that we werePaired.

But it was too late now. He’d squashed whatever emotion had begun between us while it was still a fragile bud, and now whatever sweet feelings may have existed could never blossom. I lowered my gaze, unable to look at him.

Carefully, as if afraid I’d shatter, Darius wrapped his arms around me and held me close. I stiffened. But while the hardened part of me wanted nothing more than to push him away, the tiny portion of my heart that still beat yearned for him. I melted into his embrace, finding comfort in his warm chest pressing against my cheek.

His lips grazed my hair. “I’m so sorry, Eden. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen to you. Please believe me.” His voice was pleading, compelling me to trust him.

I traced my finger across the tattooed spiderweb that threaded his cheek, relishing the way he leaned against my touch, as if it meant something to him. Could it possibly? The desire to believe him filled my entire heart so much it ached, and for a flickering moment, I nearly did.

But, almost against my will, I felt my heart hardening further, as if it was being encased in ice. Words meant nothing, promises were easily broken. I couldn’t allow myself to become tangled in his deceit anymore. I locked away every sweet feeling I felt towards him so securely that no key could ever open it again. I shook his arms off, even though severing our contact felt like I was carving out my own heart.

“Eden, please.” He attempted once more to embrace me, but I twisted away.

“Don’t touch me,” I hissed, and instantly he obeyed. “We can’t be together, not after what you did to me. If you had any remaining sliver of decency, you’d leave me alone.”