Page 69 of Twisted Ties

Well, let it try. Because I am pissed off and bristling for a fight.

If York has upped security, it’s pretty ineffectual, because no one spots me on the path through the dormitory buildings. No one stops and questions me as I pass through the gardens, the Venus common room dimly lit from within, and duck though the line of sycamore trees. I’ve never been to Stone’s room before but I’ve heard him and Azlan describe it as a cabin on the edge of the grounds and there’s only one of those marked on the map.

As I emerge from the trees, I spy the outline of it through the gloom and then the low tenor of voices. I pause, squinting through the dark. Some kind of decking runs around the small cabin and Stone and Azlan sit together talking, one lone candle flickering by their feet.

Something makes me stop. I don’t call out to them, don’tlet them know I’m there. Instead, I hug the shadows of the trees and creep closer, listening.

Maybe it’s really stupid listening in to their conversation. Maybe I know deep down in my heart no good will come of it. But my damn curiosity gets the better of me. Especially when I hear my name.

“This situation is fucked up and freaking unbearable,” Stone says, his feet resting on an upturned crate in front of him.

“You think it’s easy for me?” The man in black looks out towards my direction, rubbing at his stomach.

“I can see inside the girl’s head, dickwad. I’m aware there are some considerable upsides to your current situation.”

“I’m more than ten years older than her. I feel like a pervert every time I lay my hands on her.”

“And yet you keep laying your hands on her,” the professor growls.

Azlan doesn’t respond to that, simply drags his hand over his face.

“Let’s just agree not to discuss it, okay?” Stone says. “I don’t actually want to know. Tell me something else instead. Tell me you’ve found out more about her mother.”

I smother a gasp with my hands. My mother? What the hell?

I want to crash through the clearing and demand answers from them, but I know they won’t give them to me. I know they’ll claim they know nothing. So I keep myself hidden.

Azlan shakes his head. “Only as much as I told you. The file in the Chancellor’s office wasn’t a complete one. I need to search the archives, but it’s bound to be classified.”

“Even for the Enforcer?”

“Even for me.”

“Your father? Your uncle?”

Azlan chuckles bitterly. “For my uncle probably not. But do you think he’d seriously help us?”

Stone considers this for a moment. “No, he’d use it against us.”

“Exactly. If, as we suspect, her mother was some kind of asset, sought after by both sides, he’d be after Rhi. Just like Lowsky.”

“Just like the Chancellor,” Stone says quietly.

“We don’t know that for sure. We don’t even know if he is aware of the link between the two women. They look alike but–”

“You were sure though?”

“I’ve had a lot of time studying her face. It had to be her mother.”

I don’t hear any more because my ears start to buzz with the words I have heard, so loudly I clench my teeth together against it.

Azlan looks up towards the trees again.

“What is it?” Stone asks, peering my way as well.

I turn and run, not caring if they hear me, not caring if they see me.

More lies. More secrets.