Page 51 of Of Sins and Sacrifice

He whizzes and falls back, blood pouring from his nose.

I scramble to my feet, but powerless and achy as I am, I’m not as swift as I would like to be. He tries to come closer to me, so I use the thick book to swipe his hands away before I smash him over the face with it again.

He staggers back, disbelief written all over his features. Blood drips down his dashing uniform—no, not dashing; it’s just a uniform—and he looks at me as if he’s seen a ghost.

Before he has the time to recover and apprehend me, probably denounce me publicly for being a thiefanda violent criminal, I run away as fast as I can.

“There she is!” A girl points her finger at me as I get back to the interview location.

I barely gather my wits about me when I hear her say.

“She stole my book!”

EIGHT

Everyone is staring at me.

“Uhm, I did not steal it,” I murmur nervously. “I found it and I was trying to return it,” I lie.

The girl narrows her eyes at me. “And where did you find it?”

“In the restroom. It had fallen off the counter.”

Once more, she doesn’t seem to buy my lie.

“Here,” I say and take a step forward to hand her the book. She takes it from my hands, her nose scrunching in disgust when she sees the stains of blood.

“What’sthis?” she shrieks.

“Uhm…” I look around me. Everyone is watching me curiously. “This is how I found it.”

The girl glares at me. I can tell she wants to say I’m a liar and that she doesn’t believe me. But before she can do so, an army official shows up and tries to placate her.

“There, there. We’ve solved our little issue,” he says with a smile.

Steps follow closely behind me, and as I turn, it’s to see the male from before. The front of his uniform is splattered with blood, and he’s holding on to the bridge of his nose. He scans the crowd until his eyes land on me.

Damn it!

He’s going to denounce me publicly, is he not?

“What are you doing here, Vitry?” the official asks him.

“Checking the progress,” he mutters, his gaze on me. “I have a few fellows who require some medical help and I thought you might need some volunteers.”

The officer’s brows go up and he nods thoughtfully.

“Bring them over. We could use more volunteers for the practical test.”

Never once taking his gaze off me, he walks off.

It’s not until he’s out of sight that I release a sigh of relief. This was such a close call. He could have told on me. For a moment, I was certain he was going to.

The fact that he didn’t is…odd. Especially after I assaulted him.

The officer smooths over the conflict over the book and tells us to get ready for our exam. Fortuitously—or not—our numbers are called. Fifty-five to sixty-six are invited to step inside the infirmary for the practical exam.

What isnotfortunate, however, is that the owner of the book is included in our group, and she is continuously glaring at me, making it clear she does not believe my excuses.

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