Page 131 of Loving the Liar

His eye twitches when I don’t give him an exposé about the role I will have to assume here the second I graduate. If he knows it, why should I spell it out for him?

“Let me reiterate it,” he says condescendingly. “You are not death, Christopher. You are our liar. We use you to manipulate, lure, and strategize. We have you because you’re cunning, not because you’re a murderer. You’re going to graduate, pass the bar, and be a damn successful lawyer. We have full faith in you, and we will make it happen for you.”

“Would you like a thank you card?”

His face hardens. “No, but you will give us the work you owe us. You are going to be a ruthless worker. You’ll take care of merging companies, of ravaging through takeovers, and you will excel at it.”

Can’t. Wait.

That’s the price you pay as a Shadow, isn’t it? An easy life, anything you want, a pass for everything. But you have to fulfill whatever they have in store for you. Make yourself useful or die. I already knew what they wanted from me. I have the mind of a schemer and the behavior of a saint. People trust me, and it makes it too easy to exploit them. The Circle needs someone like me.

“Thank you for the reminder.” I uncross my legs and dust off my jacket. “Anything else?”

“Yes. Now that we are on the same page, I would like to encourage you to remember that we accept missteps, we accept the need to avenge from time to time, but we do not accept a Shadow going on a killing rampage if it puts the Circle at risk.”

I’m quick to reply because, like he said, I’ll be a damn successful lawyer. “I did not kill anyone.”

“Look, I let it go with the Shadow you hurt because you technically couldn’t be punished.”

It was a nightmare to get out of trouble with Duval after paralyzing a man’s legs at the business weekend. The way I had to play with the laws within the Circle was more complicated than I thought. But after all, I’m training to be a lawyer, and the rules are the rules. I had paid for the weekend with Ella, and all is allowed but murder if a Shadow disrespects another. It wasn’t exactly justified to them, but in the end, I was in the right.

“But now I learned from your Hera that you were the one who hurt those boys on the SFU campus.”

“Huh.” I play with the pearl in my pocket, trying to refrain from threatening Megan’s life in front of Zeus. The bitch is trying to get me punished. “Still. I didn’t kill them.”

“Hurting them beyond the ability of living normally will be considered as bad as murder. Worse even, because they can speak. You’re putting the Circle at risk by doing that.”

“Do you know what puts the Circle at risk? Letting idiotic student accounts like Hermes talk about Shadows, Heras, or Aphrodites. That thing needs to be shut down before they reveal secrets we won’t be able to hide.”

“I know, and we’re looking into it. But your case is not up for argument. If one more person gets hurt because of your infatuation for an Aphrodite, you’ll meet the man we’re about to initiate as our reaper.”

He smiles knowingly. “See, he’s being recruited as our judicious executioner. Discreet, clean, without remorse. You have that thing about yourself that makes you terrible at that, Christopher. Feelings.”

He says the last word with so much disgust even I believe it’s a bad thing to have for a second.

“So, no more. Alright?”

That condescending tone could be the reason I show him exactly how good of a reaper I could be.

But thankfully, I’m smarter than that. I’m someone who knows the best prizes are worth waiting for. Someone who understood a long time ago that victory is for the cunning, not the violent.

So, I nod. I stay calm. I keep my composure.

“Good. Very good. And talking about infatuation with an Aphrodite. I’m sure you’d like to know Ella Baker is at the altar. She’s about to be punished for not showing up when called.”

Shock renders me speechless for a few seconds. A couple of hours ago, she was with me at the hospital, running away as if I would ever let her, and now she’s here? That means the bastards got to her while I was busy with my dad.

“She was ill.”

“Or so you said. I know that’s what you told Gabriel.” He cocks an eyebrow at me. “But her purpose is to show up when called. It’s up to us to decide if she can be used or not.” He checks his watch. “It’s about to start, and I know you won’t want to miss it.”

I don’t move for a second, trying to give myself time to calm down so I’m not vulnerable. I fail.

“Who is punishing her?”

“Well, Gabriel McLean was meant to, but his daughter insisted she wanted to be present. She called us earlier to tell us it was a good time to go get Ella. Gabriel won’t be there so that Megan can.” He shrugs. “Apparently, they don’t want to both be in the same room while watching someone being fucked as a punishment. Now it’ll be me.”

There isn’t a universe where I let anyone touch Ella. Not in this temple and not outside.

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