Page 89 of Of Daggers and Deceit

I grabbed my sneakers and threw them on, followed by some shorts and a singlet before exiting my bedroom to move swiftly down the stairs. My heart thundered nervously in my chest. For all I knew, I was moving towards my end.

I’d only managed to make it halfway down the staircase when our front door was kicked in and guards flooded our house.

“What’s going on?” I yelled reactively as my feet took me down the last remaining steps. I followed a guard to the kitchen, watching as he flung open drawers and emptied them.

Rage rose inside me like a serpent ready to strike. I whirled around just in time to see Bodhi’s fearful face before he grabbed my hand and yanked me close to him.

“Hey!” I yelled at the guard who was trashing our kitchen, spying in every cupboard and every corner.

“Clear,” he called out, ignoring me. He pivoted back towards the lounge room to join the others. I could hear rummaging. I wiggled in Bodhi’s grip, eager to follow.

“Don’t, Raya,” Bodhi murmured, his scent spiking in the air around us.

“I don’t understand. What are they doing?” I was angry that they had destroyed my mum’s house, and most importantly, her kitchen. It was her favourite place in the whole house. Her trinkets lay shattered and dirtied on our floor. They were all I had left of her now.

“They are searching the houses of this ring. Supreme’s orders. They believe we have information on the missing Benefactor.” Shit.

I began to fidget, not wanting to allow what they were doing, though I endured it for the sake of our lives.

With every bang and crash, I flinched, doors opened and slammed and our valuables tossed to the floor. Every belonging of ours ruined, just as our family was, all because of Zander.

Riley and I hadn’t discussed the Benefactor since that terrible night, but today was a cruel reminder of our reality.

Riley was wrong. We couldn’t stay in this city.

There would be nowhere to run if they found out what had happened. I’d got swept up into the belief that we could still move towards elevating our family in this city and survive, even thrive. Riley had always been good at making you believe the impossible.

But now, as Bodhi’s thumb rubbed soothingly back and forth over my arm, a small bit of hope rose inside me that perhaps she hadn’t been wrong about everything. Perhaps I could fix things with Bodhi, and on the final night of the thinning, I could correct the original plan I’d made with my mum and get all of us safely beyond the shield.

“Clear,” another guard called as a thrum of energy shot through me. Two days, and everything would change for us, even if it meant I had to shatter my relationships all over again. There was no choice left for us now, and I couldn’t even fathom a future without my loved ones beside me.

“What if they pin this on one of us?” My voice was pitched purposely low, barely audible as footsteps thundered down our stairs, the guards readying themselves to leave.

Bodhi didn’t immediately reply, but I felt his heart rate speed up, the pulse of it pounding into my spine.

Guards ushered themselves out of our house, leaving the front door wide open.

We stood there a few moments more, waiting to hear any more voices before moving apart to confirm they were gone.

Bodhi swiped a palm across his face. “We just have to hope they won’t.”

He looked haggard and unkempt, his clothing stained red from the sand. The cuffs hung heavy on my arms, a reminder of what I had done.

I stepped closer towards him, right up to his chest. My hands shook with uncertainty, but I tipped my face upward, emboldened.

“And what if I told you I did it, Bo?”

The words came out like a plea. He wanted me to be honest, and I wanted to be too. I didn’t want to lose him.

His brow wrinkled. “I don’t understand.”

“The night we were electrocuted, he was there.”

I licked my lips; I didn’t want to repeat everything that had happened, not when it would remind me of everything I had lost since.

His frown deepened, holding my gaze.

“He tried to do things to me, told me so many terrible things they had planned,” I trailed off. “I fought him, and then I killed him.”

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