Page 97 of Darkness and Deceit
And if Mara refuses to look it in the eye, then I will.
Thirty-Two
LILITH
Well,the Protectors stationed outside Headmistress Bennett’s office door are new.
They stand on either side, motionless, and armed to the teeth. A silent message before I even step inside. I don’t flinch, but my pulse ticks up.
Bennett doesn’t rise when I enter.
She sits behind her desk, spine straight, hands folded neatly on the surface as if she’s waiting for me to confess to something she already knows. The raven on her shoulder shifts once, fixing its eyes on me. Watching. Weighing. Judging.
She gestures to the chair in front of her desk with the flick of two fingers, and I sit—barely holding myself together.
There are so many things I want to demand answers about, but I know going on the offense will get me nowhere.
The silence stretches. And stretches. Until it’s not silence anymore—it’s a weapon. One she wields with the precision of someone who’s spent decades perfecting how to make someone squirm without saying a single word.
When it’s clear Bennett won’t be the one to speak first, I do.
I lay it all out. The cave. The Rogues. Magnus. The faces in the walls. Every single horrifying detail Augustus and I experienced.
She doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t even blink. No shock. No horror. Nothing.
Finally, I ask, “Aren’t you going to say anything?”
The raven blinks. She doesn’t.
When she finally speaks, her tone is as cold as ice. “You have brought nothing but disruption to this academy.” She leans forward slightly, her hands folded over a stack of papers she clearly isn’t reading. “You’ve tampered with things you don’t understand. Wield powers you were never meant to possess. Everything was Balanced before you arrived.”
Behind my ribs, something splinters.
Because that’s not just blame.
That’s condemnation.
“You think this is my fault?” I ask, my voice flat. “That I’m the reason your walls are cracking and the dead are screaming from under the floors?”
“Not the reason.” Her gaze cuts through me like a scalpel. “The trigger.”
Disbelief flares. “This all started before I even got here.”
“And yet,” she says smoothly, “the cracks didn’t form until you stepped onto the shore.”
I shoot to my feet. I don’t mean to. I’m just tired of pretending I haven’t bled for this place. That I haven’t nearly died for it.
“I didn’t ask for any of this. I came here to become a Protector. I wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps. I didn’t ask to be a Dual. I didn’t ask to be a freak.”
Her lips don’t move, but I swear the word lands. Freak. Like it confirms something she’s always believed.
My fists curl at my sides. “You kept Magnus locked in the dark under our feet and didn’t tell anyone. You let us believe this place was safe. And now you’re blaming me for digging up the rot you buried.”
Still, she says nothing.
So I say it for her.
“I’m not sure I want to be a Protector anymore,” I admit. My voice trembles, but I don’t back down. “Not if it means protecting secrets like this.”
