Page 77 of The Art of Exiley

“Rafe, you know I would normally never consider it, but this one’s just a weed. It’s worth what they can give us.”

“This oneis my lab partner.”

“She can’t possibly matter to you.” Leo scoffs. “Imagine what we could do if we acquire antimatter—”

Rafe cuts him off. “You should be censured by the Guard for abetting Inquisitor scum.” He practically spits each word. “You too.” He glares over at the other two, and the girl begins to cry.

“Cousin, why are you defending a weed? She’s not even that pretty. What’s Genesis done to you?” Who knew there existed an even ruder elitist ass than Rafe Vanguard?

“I’m defending a Sire over helping our greatest enemy.” Rafe grabs Leo’s hand and points to the bone ring, the stone of the Avant Guard. “An enemy you have sworn on your life to guard our world against. What has greed done to you?”

Leo is taller than Rafe, yet Rafe talks down to him as if he towers over him.

Rafe drops Leo’s hand with contempt. “Tell me everything you know.”

“We don’t know anything. I just received this anonymous pigeon.” Leo pulls an unfolded pigeon from his pocket and hands it to Rafe. “And when I heard about the Sire weed, I thought it might be worth pursuing.”

Rafe reads the note, pockets it, and strides over to me. He uses his spoon to cut the ropes binding me to the chair.

“Thank you,” I murmur as I stand. But once I’m on my feet, all the blood rushes to my head, and I stagger with dizziness. Rafe brusquely pushes my hair aside, checking my neck. He also inspects both of my wrists, ignoring the red chafing from the ropes. I don’t know what he’s looking for, but I can’t seem to find the strength to protest the contact. He’s quick and clinical, but every graze of his fingers elicits the strange tingle I’ve come to associate with his touch. He doesn’t acknowledge it.

“Don’t worry. She’s fine,” Leo says, resigned.

“She’d better be,” Rafe responds. Then he goes still, so motionless that he seems inhuman. The black fury has returned to his eyes. He’s looking at a faded light pink line on the inside of my forearm. Was it there before? Itlooks like a scratch that’s almost healed. Rafe traces the line with his own finger.

Tingle.

I’m scared by the rage in his eyes, and of the fact that, besides for his finger on my arm, he is so unsettlingly still. “You lie to me, Leonardo de Montaigne,” he finally says, icy words that chill the room. Everyone is clearly afraid now.

“Oh, c’mon, cousin, don’t be like that—”

Rafe turns furiously on Leo. “Fie upon you! There’s already one traitor in your family, and you risk doing something like this?” Rafe points at me. “She may have been born a philistine, but she is aMaker. And she is a Sire. ASire! You have crossed a line that should never be crossed.” My skin prickles with cold, and my knees are weakening.

I don’t understand what’s going on, and I’m so dizzy that it’s becoming difficult to follow the conversation. I try to grasp at all the pieces slithering away from me.

They took me to trade for antimatter, and they did something else to me too. Rafe thinks it’s Inquisitors they’re working with, but that’s not possible because the Inquisitors don’t exist anymore. And someone in Leo’s family is a traitor? What did Rafe say his name was?

“Give it all to me. Now,” Rafe commands. I close my eyes to make the room stop spinning. Noticing my sudden weakness, Rafe grabs my arm to support me. “Gravdammit, how much did you take?” As I blink my eyes open, Leo is handing something to Rafe. I would wonder what it is if I could only focus, but my brain feels like it’s wrapped too tightly in cellophane.

Rafe surveys the room and then says, “I will keep your dalliance with the Inquisitors a secret, as it could lead to your exile, and you are family. But Alex will be hearing that you bled a Sire.” There’s a chorus of sharp inhales at the mention of Prince Alexander. The air tastes like fear.

The Valkyrie girl starts to cry again. “Rafe, honey,” she whines. “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t really part of this. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Enough, Yvette.” She instantly silences. “All of you, get out of my sight.”

The air moves with the rush of bodies swiftly abandoning the room. Leo stops at the exit and turns to stare me down with a curious kind of malice.

Then he leaves, the door slamming behind him, and weariness overtakes me. My eyes flutter shut and my head lolls against Rafe’s arm. His biceps are so big. He’s so warm. I feel funny. Through the veil of my fuzzy thoughts, I see Rafe send off a pigeon.

Soon Kaylie arrives. At some point I must have sat back down in the chair, though I still find myself leaning against Rafe’s arm, clutching his wrist. Kaylie and Rafe converse in quick, urgent voices, but I’m in and out of lucidity and catch only bits and pieces.

“It wasn’t Inquisitors; it was journeys from Avant, from Guard families,” Rafe is saying.

I guess he plans to keep the promise he made to Leo about not mentioning who they were working for.

He continues. “They bled her. I have it all here. Her Sire healing may mean she doesn’t need an infusion, but I thought you should examine her to confirm. The drugs are clearly not out of her system.”

“We should tell Bloche immediately,” Kaylie says.

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