Page 29

My stomach sinks. Because now I understand why she looked at me like that. My stomach sinks in that awful, slithering way that tells me the gods are laughing at me.

I stare at Elias like he’s speaking another language, like if I blink hard enough, he’ll say he’s joking, that this is another one of our pranks and the girl who just smiled at me like she owned me isn’t who he says she is.

"She’s what?" I ask flatly, voice hollow.

Elias leans in, lowering his voice even though no one’s around but us. "Taliah. Sin Binder. Eighty-two B.C."

My mouth goes dry.

Not because she’s supposed to be dead. But because now the name fits. Now I remember.

And oh, fuck me.

I drag a hand over my face, groaning deep in my chest like the weight of the world has dropped square on my shoulders. "No. No, no, no."

Elias watches me carefully, then narrows his eyes, seeing too much. "What?"

I shake my head, already regretting every decision I’ve ever made. "You don’t wanna know."

He crosses his arms, smirking like he’s about to dissect me for sport. "You’re sweating. Tell me."

I glance back toward the square, heart still pounding, like she’s going to appear behind me and finish whatever creepy little smile she’d been aiming my way.

I turn back to him, drop my head against the wall behind me, and mutter under my breath, "I lost my virginity to her."

Elias blinks.

Then, slow as sin, a grin curls over his face.

"No," he says, eyes lighting up.

"Yes," I groan, scrubbing both hands over my face. "It was—gods, it was bad. So bad."

Elias bursts out laughing, shoulders shaking, and I’m about two seconds from punching him when he doubles over, wheezing.

"She cried," I add, because I might as well die twice today. "Told me it was the best thing that’s ever happened to her."

That makes him laugh harder.

I glare at him. "It wasn’t. It was thirty seconds, tops."

He’s gasping now, wiping tears from the corners of his eyes like he can’t handle the sheer, devastating horror of it. "You’re telling me," he manages between snorts, "that the Binder girl—your Binder girl—cried over how good you were in bed?"

I level him with a dead stare. "She fell off a cliff."

Elias wheezes. "You fucked her and she fell off a cliff."

"It wasn’t—" I cut off, shaking my head like that’ll erase the memory. "I didn’t even want to—she was obsessed. Creepy obsessed."

Elias leans against the wall beside me, still grinning like a devil. "And now she’s back."

"Apparently."

He elbows me, still smug. "So what’s the plan, loverboy?"

I groan again, because there’s no plan.

There’s only one undeniable fact: