Page 9 of Tear of Destiny

My words bounce off her. She looks at me coolly and asks, “Are you done? Have you got that off your chest? Can I go now?”

“No!” I snap at her. “I’m just getting started, and I hope you have something to say for yourself. Because one thing is clear – this whole scheme of yours achieved nothing. You wanted to get closer to Ayden and get me out of the way. Well, now he hates your guts and wants nothing to do with you. So congratulations.”

“Sure, he’s upset now, that’s only normal. But he’ll calm down. He just needs time, and a few words here and there to open his eyes to the truth.”

“Oh, is that so?” I ask. “And what exactly is the truth in your opinion?”

“Uh, that you guys are a bad match and that you’re super jealous. I mean, saying that I crept into his bed. That’s totally crazy, and eventually he’ll realize you made it all up.”

“Are you psychotic?” I ask incredulously. “You actually think he’ll believe that? He knows me; he knows I wouldn’t get worked up over nothing.”

“You didn’t. You just didn’t want me sleeping in his room. And the fact that you ran off shows what kind of person you are. You never think of anyone but yourself.”

“Max,” I snarl. “I want you to look me in the face at least once and admit the truth. You owe me at least that after ruiningeverything.”

The smile that spreads across her face gives me goosebumps.

“You want the truth? You want me to tell you I took advantage of the fact that you were hanging with Kate? Yeah, maybe I went to him and got him to let me sleep in his room, and told him I wanted to talk to him about you. Maybe I had some information for him that you allegedly shared with me, your friend. About how you were constantly complaining about how unhappy you were with Ayden to the point where you were seriously thinking of leaving him. I mean, there’s still that other guy.”

I shake my head. “You didn’t…”

“No, I actually didn’t,” Max replies. “I didn’t get the chance because Ayden didn’t want to hear it. He just lay down and went to sleep. So I was going to say all that to him the next morning. But then you showed up in the middle of the night and everything went so much better than I could have planned.”

“You undressed and climbed into bed with him. Snow saw you and growled.”

She shrugs. “So what? It worked, and it proved that you don’t belong together. Otherwise, you guys would have seen right through it and confronted me. But what do you do? You run away, and Ayden’s worried sick. So, were you with him? This Noah guy? Is that why Ayden’s so angry with you?”

I bite my lip in an effort to contain myself. Instead of answering her question, I snarl, “How do you know about him?”

“Oh, I’m just observant. Who is he? Your other boyfriend?”

I relax slightly because Max seems to think he’s just an ordinary guy. She doesn’t know he’s a Noctu. If she did, she would have confronted me about it already.

“Ayden will never forgive you,” I say. “He’s incredibly angry with you.”

She flaps her hand dismissively. “It’s only a matter of time. I’ll gradually show things in a different light, and he’ll come around.I just need to convince him that you invented the whole story.” She shrugs and moves a step closer. Glaring at me, she hisses, “And anyway, the main thing is that you’ll never have him; someone like you, a totally incompetent outsider, who for some obscure reason winds up with a fire spirit – so much power that you don’t even know how to use. Nope, you don’t deserve Ayden either. And it looks as if he’ll never want you back. That’s all I care about.”

She grins triumphantly and turns on her heels. I stare after her, speechless, as she struts back down the corridor to the cafeteria. I just stand here and don’t know what to feel. Rage, despair, and a hint of fear that she may turn out to be right.

I return to the cafeteria. Max is already back. She leans toward Lucia and giggles, and then goes to order food. Kate’s still sitting at our table, looking at Max with contempt.

I stride decisively to Lucia and lean toward her with my hands on the table. “I’ve finally got you alone. I’ve been meaning to talk to you,” I begin. “I assume Max told you what happened between us – her version, that is.”

Lucia avoids my eye and looks as if she’s about to stand up and walk away, her fingers gripping her tray. “I’m really sorry about all that. Believe me, I never figured she would go that far… or I would have tried to warn you.” She doesn’t dare look at me.

I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “You knew?”

“Max wanted us to befriend you. She was convinced she could get closer to Ayden through you, or at least make sure things didn’t work out between you two. She’s had him in her sights for a long time.”

I can’t breathe; I just stare at her, speechless.

“I’m really sorry. I never figured it would go this far. Maybe I was hoping she would eventually see you as a true friend, come to her senses or something. I don’t know. And I just want to say that I really like you. You’re a good friend. So I’m genuinely sorryabout what she did to you.”

“But you still stood by and said nothing,” I observe.

“I can’t believe this,” says Kate, who’s standing behind me.

Lucia gulps. “You don’t know what Max can be like. And we’ve been friends for ages. That’s definitely better than having her as an enemy.”

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