Page 47 of Liar
Chapter 15
Ember
I can’t be hearing her correctly.
“Savannah, I … I don’t understand. You’re having an affair with Damion Briar?”
“It sounds like you’re getting it.” She shrugs, strands of tangled hair sticking to her blazer.
“Where have you been for the past year?” I glance around, understanding dawning. She’s brought me to an abandoned cemetery at the crack of dawn and behind a standing mausoleum, blocking us from the roadway. It’s probably the only property in Raven’s Bluff the Nobles and Virtues don’t own or have forgotten about.
She’s smart. I’ll give her that. But … is she as traumatized as everyone—including me—thinks?
“You said we’re the same.” Savannah rests her back against the stone wall, beautiful even with gray as her backdrop. “In a lot of ways, we are. We’ve exposed brutal truths to each other, like the pleasure we take in other people’s pain.”
I grind my teeth, shifting uncomfortably, unable to admit how close she is to the real me—a person I’m only coming to know myself.
“It’s for that reason I’m comfortable being honest with you, Ember.” Savannah’s voice takes on a strange lilt—flat and light, without much space between words. Almost like a robotic version of herself.
“Okay.”
Another frantic option replaces the reason Savannah’s brought me here. There are no witnesses. She could kill me, dump my body in her abandoned family mausoleum, and throw her hands up in confusion with everyone else when people start asking questions.
And who would that be? I don’t have many people caring where I am at any given moment. Even if I could count Malcolm or Dash, there weren’t any witnesses to my departure this morning. If it weren’t for—
Thorne. Thorne will wonder where I’ve gone. Why I’m not at school.
Oh god, I hope he wonders.
A bark of laughter escapes my mouth. I throw my hand up to cover it as Savannah squints at me suspiciously. But, come on, it’s funny. I went and gave one of the most important, coveted parts of myself to a guy who may or may not care if his ex-girlfriend legitimately murders me.
Well, fuck him. I can take care of myself.
Turning back to Savannah, I repeat without an ounce of fear in my voice, “Where were you?”
Savannah works her jaw while leveling me with a look like she’s daring me to question her. “I was with him.”
My arms go slack at my sides. “Damion?”
“Yes.”
I stretch my eyes wide. “But where? At the manor? No, that’s impossible. Thorne would’ve—” I stop as I try to control the thoughts tumbling over themselves in my head. “Is Thorne in on it? Did he know you were in the house? Did Julie?”
Savannah presses her palms to either side of her head, closing her eyes. “You’re asking too many questions. Stop, just stop and let me finish.”
“Sorry.” I lift my hands in surrender. “I’ll shut up.”
And listen. I’m getting the sense Savannah’s bottled this up for so long and is desperate to unload.
“It started when I was initiated into the Societies. Damion took control of my trials.” Savannah pushes out her lips. “A lot like Thorne did with you.”
If she thinks my situation with Thorne is anything close to an affair with a sadistic pedophile, Savannah really is as traumatized as everyone thinks.
But I keep my thoughts to myself, biting down on my lips.
“He pushed me to limits beyond what I thought I was capable of. Made me experience things that were terrifying at first, then exhilarating. I became addicted to the challenges and to him. It wasn’t long before we took my new fetish to bed. Does any of that sound familiar?”
Her question dares me to argue that Thorne and I are different, that father is not like son … but I can’t. My fingers curl into fists at my sides, battling the sickness within myself.