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Liar.

But she couldn’t blame him for not saying the truth, could she?

I love you, Soleil.

Be my heartkeeper.

She was almost tempted to cover her ears so she wouldn’t hear his words, playing over and over in her mind. Desperately, she tried to mentally hum the lilting notes ofLa Vie En Rose,but it didn’t work.

None of it worked.

The world was too, too silent if he was not with her.

I love you, Soleil.

Be my heartkeeper.

She whispered, “If I d-don’t remember him, I will not be hurt—-”

Someone knocked urgently on Zari’s door, cutting her off, and when Zari opened the door, it was to find one of the school guards trying to catch his breath. “Lady Zari. Lady Soleil. Someone’s trying to break into ANEX.”

Soleil was the first one to recover from her shock, and she demanded, “What? Who?” But she had already started running as she spoke, and the guard did his best to catch up with her.

As they ran down the stairs, the guard huffed out, “It’s Lord Ilie, milady.”

Chapter Thirteen

Acrowd of students had gathered in front of the gates, preventing Soleil from seeing right away what was happening. Most of the boys were either yelling or booing while the female students appeared distressed and almost embarrassed.

Forcing her way through the crowd, Soleil finally emerged in front and she gasped when she saw ANEX’s highest-ranking security officers jeering at the marquis as they used the shields of the school to repeatedly push Ilie back.

She wanted to shout at them to stop, but she knew they were within their rights at what they were doing. Since her ordeal, access to ANEX had been indefinitely withdrawn for the marquis. Any attempt of the marquis to enter would be automatically considered an attack against the school.

Surely he knew that, too?

She moved forward, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to see past the school’s shield of invisibility, but the moment she did, the marquis stiffened, his head jerking up.

“Soleil?”

Oh.How it hurt, oh dear Lord, how it hurt to hear her name on his lips.

Her scent reached out to him, and even though he couldn’t see her, he knew she was there. “Soleil, answer me.”

She asked brokenly, “What do you think you’re doing, milord?”

He shook his head as he slowly forced himself to get up. It was clear that his body was still struggling to accept her soul, and that his power wasn’t at full force. “Should I not be the one to ask you that?” He stared at her as he spoke, and it did feel like he could see her even though common sense told her all he would be able to see was rows upon rows of weeds.

“Should I not be the one asking about your sanity?” Ilie’s voice was hoarse with pain. “Should I not be the one asking about what you plan to do?”

Soleil froze, realizing that somehow he knew about her plan to have her memories erased. The only way he could have known was—-

Curse you, Fleur.

Forcing herself to speak between bloodless lips, she said, “You should go. You are breaking the rules, drawing attention to the school—-”

“Do you think I fucking care? Do you think there’s anything I care about except you?” The marquis lifted his head. “You hear that, you fucking demon-hating school—-”

The guards blasted him away, causing Ilie to fly back—-