Page 90 of Reign

Ahmar’s answer is to shove a straw between my lips, and I suck in the cool water on instinct. Then I shove the straw out with my tongue. “Chase.”

“He’s alive,” he supplies. “Not doing well, but breathing. His family is with him now.”

“Sabine … she can’t—don’t let her see him.”

Ahmar’s lips turn down. “She’s not with them. She didn’t think it’d be proper, under the … circumstances.”

Though my mind is foggy with cotton clouds, I don’t miss the undercurrent in his tone. “Does everyone think it was me? That I hurt him?”

He gives a tight nod. “Sabine and Daniel Stone have given statements that your obsession with Sabine after her daughter was killed rose to concerning levels. You accused her of—being a queen of the Virtues? Do I have that right? And tried to take away her title by … killing her future stepson? Calla, is any of this resonating with you?”

“Fuck,” I whisper, my eyes doing damp. My restraints don’t let me wipe the building tears away.

Ahmar stares so hard at me, I can feel his desperate study within the deep trenches of my heart. As if the answers for what happened last night are written on my skin.

He hesitates, then says, “I’m gonna say this quick, because I—it’s difficult. There was a note in your room, written by you, explaining how your obsession was too much for you to bear, and you couldn’t handle it anymore. The same people who got to your mom were coming for you. Secret societies want to murder you just like they killed your mom. Headmaster Marron is one of their leaders, in cahoots with Sabine Harrington and Daniel Stone, and they all want you dead. You also drew a map where police could find Ivy’s unmarked grave. You killed her to spare her suffering at the hands of the same society that’s torturing you—”

“Stop,” I whisper.

“I can’t.” Ahmar’s voice cracks. “The police are outside waiting for you to be lucid enough for questioning. Your father and I are doing everything we can to explain you’d never write such a thing, never mind hurt your best friend, but they have all this evidence, all this documentation, proving you’re mentally unsound. And this Daniel Stone guy is hellbent on pinning his son’s attack on you. He’s involved every top official he can think of to bring you down. I … Jesus, Callie. He’s leveraging his kid’s near-death to give his accusations extra ammo. It’s sickening.”

“It’ll be okay. When Chase wakes up, he’ll explain—”

“If, Callie. It’s a very real if.” Ahmar’s eyes go damp. He squeezes my hand.

“I tried to stop it,” I choke out. “I couldn’t—I tried to swim to him in time, but I was so scared. I hid under the boat for too long. He’s bleeding out on the docks and I’m floating three feet away and I still couldn’t get there—”

“Sweetie. Shh.” Ahmar rests his forearms on the bed, cupping my hand in both of his.

I blink. “This isn’t making sense to you, isn’t it? I’m trying to explain, but I’m frightening you.”

“This whole fucking thing is frightening to me, which is why this is how it’s gonna go: I’ll go out there and tell the cops you’re still out of it. I have a lawyer friend on her way, and your dad and Lynda are coming, too.”

I lift my head from the pillow. “Dad? Lynda? That’s good! They know all about the Nobles and Virtues. They can help explain.”

“They’ve already told me everything.”

My neck strains as I try to raise myself higher, but my hands and feet are tied securely. “They have? You know?”

Ahmar offers another squeeze. He says somberly, “I do. Yes.”

“Then the police can stop looking at me. They can turn to Sabine and Daniel instead. There’s an entire underground worth of lies and deceit—I can give you names. I’ll give you all of them, if it means—”

“Baby girl.” I’m suddenly subjected to Ahmar’s sorrowful, defeated gaze. “Lynda won’t go on the record. She and Pete confessed to me because I was out of my mind. I thought you’d lost it, that this was the end for you. And I didn’t do enough to help you, to stop this. That I failed your momma.”

I try to rise again. “Ahmar, no.”

“I’m educated, now.” Ahmar sniffs hard, swallowing his emotion. “About this place and the players. And once you’re given the physical okay, you’re coming home with me and I’m going to fight for you until the Stones’ Armageddon ends. Kiddo, I believe you. I believe you and I’m sorry that we can’t do more to prove it.”

“They’re pinning Ivy’s murder on me.”

Ahmar bows his head. “They’re doing a lot more than that, sweetie.”

“Then Dad has to speak the truth. He won’t let me rot in prison. He can’t. I’m—”

When Ahmar angles his head to meet my stare, my words die in my throat.

There’s me, and then there’s Blair and Lynda.

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