Page 114 of Inception

God, it was all her fault!

“Answer me!”

“Look,” I said, deciding to do the only thing I knew how to do—lie. “I don’t know anything about amoralAmulet, so whatever you think you heard, you’re wrong.”

“You’re lying.” His eyes burned holes into my soul. “You’re lying to me and you’re not even doing a good job of it.”

“You’re the liar! You’re the one who lied about everything, about who you were, about—”

“Don’t try to turn this around on me.” He tipped forward, his stance both authoritative and intimidating all at once. “Linley died for that Amulet. Do you have any idea what she went through trying to get it?” His eyes glistened with a blinding rage. “What I went through trying to find it for her?”

“I...” I dropped my eyes. I couldn’t bear to look at him like this, to face him and lie to him again. I felt as though my heart were splintering into a million little pieces.

“Look at me, Jemma.”

“No.” I shook my head. “I don’t want to lie to you, Trace.”

“Then don’t.”

I pressed my lips together, forcing the silence.

“Alright.” He leaned back, the body armor that had begun to dissolve seemed as though it were shifting back into place, closing him off from the rest of the world again—from me. “Just tell me one thing then,” he said, defeated. “Was it the Council? Were they the ones who gave you the Amulet?”

I didn’t know what to do. If I answered his question, I would be admitting to him that I did in fact have the Amulet. Then again, he pretty much already knew that.

“Please, Jemma.” A tired breath escaped, jagged and slow. “I need to know if they gave you the Amulet.”

“Why does that matter?” I wondered, buying myself time.

“Because it does,” he said, heated. “It matters if they knew where it was and lied to me about it...if they knew all along and let my sister die anyway. It matters tome.”

Suddenly it made sense why he left the Order. Why he had such animosity towards them. Heblamedthem. He thought they knew how to save Linley and refused to do it. That they fed her to the Revs without so much as a second thought.

I shook my head in response.

“No it didn’t come from them or no you won’t answer me?” The muscles in his jaw popped as he watched me squirm under his penetrating stare.

He looked so angry with me, so disappointed. It was damn near intolerable. After everything we’d gone through, after all the times he came to my rescue, I couldn’t bear to sit here and lie to him. Not about this. Not about something this important to him.

“The Council doesn’t know anything about it,” I said, meeting his disparaged eyes. “They weren't the ones who gave it to me. Tessa was.”

33. ATONEMENT

Silence wrapped itself around us like the familiar embrace of an old friend. Neither one of us spoke, though in the dim light of the cabin, I thought I saw something telling flicker through his eyes. Something vulnerable—grateful—and I found myself wanting to reach forward to touch him. To swipe away the ebony strand of hair from his eyes. But I didn’t dare move.

He broke the ice first. “Do you think you can finish this for me?” He motioned to his partial stitches.

I nodded and scooted in closer.

“Are you wearingit now?” he asked when I started up again, his baritone voice barely above a whisper. “Is that why you don’t have a scratch on you?”

“Tessa said it has some sort of protective power.”

“How long?”

I wasn’t sure if he wanted to know how long I’ve been wearing it or how long my sister’s had it—

“Both,” he answered before I could ask the question aloud.

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