Page 34 of Twisted Truths
As I sort through the mess of jumbled thoughts, Nash seems to take my silence as a refusal to answer his questions. He shifts off the rock to pace in front of me, his frustration building by the second.
“So, if Zara was hisChosen,”—he spits the word out as if it’s something dirty— “then what do they call you? His concubine? His mistress?” I’m frozen, staring at him in complete shock when he halts his movements and turns slowly to look at me. “How do I know you weren’t in on it? That youand your lover boy didn’t murder her so you could take her place?”
Tears spring to my eyes at his hurtful accusations. For once in my life, I don’t cower in fear. No, my anger and hurt have superseded my anxiety. I won’t sit here and let this man blame me for the death of someone who was like a sister to me.
Scrambling off the rock, I straighten my shoulders and look him directly in the eye. “I know you’re hurting, but you don’t get to take it out on me.” My voice breaks, but now I’ve started, it all comes tumbling out. “You have no idea what goes on here, and Gabriel meansnothingto me. Zara was my closest ally, and we were going to get out together. When she escaped, she left a note saying she’d be back for me, and I waited. Every day, I waited. I didn’t even know what had happened to her until after the market.”
His expression shifts slightly, like a crack in a frozen lake, but I don’t stop. I can’t.
“I’m sick of living in fear, Nash—tired of trying to live by these rules which don’t make sense to me, terrified that I’ll make one wrong move, and someone will sell me out to Guardian Solomon or Seraphina. I came here searching for my sister, but I was too late. She died during childbirth, and I was left with no one. No family. Nowhere to go. They took me in, but I’ve always felt like an outsider. Until Zara. She was a light in the dark. I don’t know what she was running from, but she was the only person I trusted, and I believed she would come back for me.”
My throat tightens, but I force the next part out. “She didn’t, though, and now I know why. I didn’t hurt her, Nash, and I don’t think Gabriel did either. Something else is going on here, but I don’t know what.” I hesitate before adding, “Gabriel might, though.”
The silence that follows is brutal. Nash clenches his jaw, hishands fisting at his sides. I don’t know if he’s still angry at me or barely holding it together.
Shaking my head, a lone tear slips down my cheek. “I shouldn’t have told you any of this. You already made up your mind about me.”
Turning, I mean to walk away from him, feeling a chance of freedom slipping away, but I barely make it two steps before his hand closes around my wrist, firm but not forceful.
“Hadley,” he chokes out, his voice rough, threaded with something that sounds like regret. “Don’t go.”
I turn back, ready to yell at him to let me go, but the utter devastation on his face stops me.
“I’m sorry,” he murmurs, his gaze locked on where his thumb is rubbing a soothing pattern on my wrist. “No one else understands. They’re saying Zara did it, that she killed Mum, Paul, and Rylan.”
“No,” I whisper, shaking my head. “She wouldn’t. She could never do that.”
His lips tick up at the corners, but there’s a sadness in his small smile. “You’re the only one who seems to believe me. Everyone else keeps saying the evidence—” His voice cracks as he breaks off. “Even Lev thinks I’m clutching at straws. I have a feeling he’s starting to believe she did it, and now I have to bury my sister, knowing everyone thinks she murdered them all.”
I don’t know who Lev is. Zara never mentioned anyone by that name, but I can see the pain in Nash’s eyes, feel the desperation in his words. He’s hurting, and all he wants is someone to believe him. To believe his sister wouldn’t have destroyed his family.
Reaching out a shaky hand, I press it to his cheek, causing him to look up at me. The sadness in his eyes almost breaks me. “Zara didn’t do it.”
For a long moment, we’re caught in an impasse. Nashdoesn’t flinch away from my touch. He simply watches me like I’m the last tether holding him together.
Then, he’s kissing me.
I’ve kissed boys before, but none of those teenage kisses have been as all-consuming as this one.
It’s not soft, and it’s not gentle. It’s all heat and desperation, and something unspoken that has been simmering under the surface since the moment we met. His hands are on my waist, and mine grip his shirt. When his tongue sweeps across the seam of my mouth, I open willingly with a soft whimper.
For a moment, the world goes quiet.
No Sunfire Circle. No Gabriel. No fear.
Just us.
And even though I know the dangerous ramifications of this kiss, even though I should pull away—I don’t.
In this moment, I give in to the comfort I feel in Nash’s arms.
I simply give in.
Chapter Twelve
NASH
Ithink I’ve completely taken leave of my senses. One minute I’m arguing with Hadley, and the next I’m kissing her. I can’t deny the attraction I feel towards her, but my brain is screaming this is wrong while my body is leaning into hers, betraying every logical fibre of my being.
