Page 86 of His Trick

I felt a flicker of unease. That’s what he wanted. He wanted me unsettled. He wanted Shiloh to see me…vulnerable and unsure. I wasn’t weak, but the words were meant to make me doubt. It was to make Shiloh doubt me.

Shiloh’s gaze kept flicking to me, searching. His fists were tight on the table, his nails digging into the wood.

“Carrington,” he muttered, his voice tight. “What…what does he mean?”

I wanted to tell him. I needed to explain my past. Hell, my future…who I was. I needed him to accept me, accept my darkness.

I swallowed, keeping my face neutral.

“Nothing,” I said firmly. “Stay with me. Don’t look for the answers here. Let’s just go.”

Edmund chuckled, soft and cruel.

“Ah…the protector, now? How noble of you.” He leaned forward slightly, the chains rattling. “But sometimes protectors damage those they are sworn to protect. Have you, Carrington Harding? Are you aware of the damage you have inflicted and what you carry? What blood is onyour hands?” His eyes pierced mine, calculating and measuring.

I forced a shrug, careful not to show how hard my chest was hammering. “I carry only what I need to. My past is the past.”

“Interesting,” Edmund murmured, tilting his head. “You’ve carried a lot, haven’t you? You’ve done…difficult things. Orders. Jobs. You think you’re untouchable because you followed instructions. But even the obedient ones…” He paused, letting the weight of it settle. “They leave stains that can’t simply be washed away.”

I felt my stomach twist. He was circling me now, and I knew exactly what he was doing. He was probing for weaknesses, watching my reactions to see if I’d break before Shiloh did.

Shiloh’s voice was sharp and trembling with anger, but now it was directed at me. “Carrington, what the fuck is he talking about? What orders?”

I kept my face steady and as controlled as I was able. “He’s toying with us. That’s all. Don’t engage.”

Edmund’s smile widened slowly, and it was fucking poisonous. “Oh, but I think you know, don’t you? You’re just hiding it from yourself. Some part of you knows how far the reach goes. Some part of you…” He let the pause drag. “Wishes it weren’t true. How the pendulum swings, even when it was set in motion only once.”

I felt my jaw tighten, my hands clenching under the table so hard they felt wet. My mind spun, trying to anticipate the edge he was leading us toward. Every word, every slow breath, was a blade dragging across my nerves. He meant my past. He spoke of my contract, but…why?

Shiloh shifted beside me, strung tight and ready to snap. I leaned toward him, begging with my eyes. “Control it. Focus. Whatever he says, we stay together. Don’t let him pull you apart. Don’t let him pull us apart.”

Edmund’s eyes flicked back to Shiloh, and he smiled. “And you…you will want answers. Won’t you? You’ll want to know why. Who. How. All the things you thought you needed from me, but it wasn’t I who could answer them, dear boy.”

Shiloh’s fists clenched tighter. “I—” he ground out. “I need…”

“I know,” I said, cutting him off. “And you will get them, Shiloh.”

The pause stretched. Edmund leaned forward slightly, those damn chains rattling nonstop, his wicked gaze predatory.

“Some truths…” he said softly, deliberately. “Are best seen last. Let the fear build. Let them sweat. Let them beg for it.”

I felt it, deep in my chest, the tightening coil of dread. There was more to his game. He had pieces I didn’t. This wasn’t just about my past. This was something deeper. I knew the moment was coming. I didn’t know how deep it would cut.

Edmund’s eyes returned to me, glinting. “And you…” he said slowly, savoring the pause. “You were very good at following orders. Excellent, in fact. So good that no one suspected the hand behind the work wasn’t the one that demanded it. So precise. Accurate to a fault. Nothing sways a monster from a goal. No pleas for a sad little boy left behind. A monster so efficient it rivals even me. I wasn’t capable of such a task, and I was afraid of the consequences. But you?”

Something cold hit my stomach. My pulse spiked. My hands shook so hard under the table that I felt the wood rap my knuckles. I knew he was talking to me. But I couldn’t figure out which part was going to shatter everything between Shiloh and me.

Edmund’s gaze never left me. His smirk curved slowly and sharply, like a blade dragging over bone.

“You were so very good at following orders,” he murmured again, voice soft and cruel, avoiding the gaze of the wandering guard. “So obedient. Never questioned. Never faltered. You did what you were told…even if it meant someday hurting the one you loved the most.”

My stomach dropped like fucking lead weight. Heat prickled at the back of my neck, my pulse hammering in my ears.

Hurt the one I love? Who?

Shiloh leaned slightly toward me, hungry for answers, suspicion burning in his eyes. And I had nothing to give him, not a damn word, not a warning, and not even a shield.

I was just as raw, just as exposed.