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Suri gave Kirk an adoring, wet-eyed look.
The porn they’d been ordered to perform as the housewife and handyman might’ve been forced, but…the way they looked at each other screamed truth.
Oh no…
So that was why Kirk got so angry with Peter the night I’d sobbed in the vault. Why he’d warned Peter not to catch feelings for me.
He caught them himself.
I could imagine the helplessness of that. The sheer inability to protect the one person who held your heart.
Henri sprang into mind as we left the manicured grass and spilled into the forest. Immediately, the soft thunder of our footfalls turned into crunchy cracking over twigs and leaves. Our speed dropped as our tight group fanned out, dodging trees and falling into lines, following animal trails and slightly overgrown paths through the thick undergrowth.
I’d trusted Henri, and he’d broken that trust.
I’d felt something for Henri, and he’d scrambled my feelings until I had no idea what I felt anymore.
I’d come here as someone and transformed into something else.
Something I didn’t really like.
A nice girl turned nasty. A girl who would happily murder every Master she could get her hands on…but if a miracle happened and Peter’s vow came true…then what?
If we somehow got everyone free and made the Masters pay…could I kill Henri too?
Could I look him in the eye and hurt him the way he hurt me?
Because if I can’t, then…what does that say about me?
I glanced at the orange splodge on my upper thigh.
He’d shot me with his paintball gun.
He’d chosen me and fired, punching my leg with a horrible bullet that stung and bruised and exploded.
But…he hadn’t shot Peter.
He’d aimed at him, prepared to pick on him like he always had, yet…his eyes had glowed with horror as he’d noticed what Victor had done to my friend.
And then, he’d shot me instead.
And that made me…grateful.
Hopeful…
“Enough about murder, please. You didn’t answer me before.” Rachel panted as she avoided a thick bush and hissed between her teeth as she ran over something sharp. “Where are we going, and how do you know a shortcut?”
Peter bent forward, his stamina rapidly failing the deeper we charged into the forest. “I know the same way I know what happens at a Diamond Kiss ceremony.” He almost bumped into a tree. It took a swift yank on his elbow to keep him on the path. “Victor has made me serve at a few.” He almost dry-retched as if the memories were too much. “You only know that a Diamond Kiss is death. You know that when one of us is selected, they don’t come back.” He giggled blackly. “But lucky ole me? I get to watch them die. I get to clean up. I get to see things even my nightmares can’t conjure. And let me tell you…all of that shit? It haunts a person.”
Rachel shot him a terrified glance. “W-What happens?”
Up ahead, Suri looked over her shoulder, listening to Peter.
I wanted to tell him to hush. To not give the jewels any other reason to end their lives.
But he grunted, “There’s a cave. He calls it the Temple of Facets. There’s a table. He calls it the Altar of Awakening.” He laughed once. “There’s a knife. He calls it the Blade of Beauty—”
“H-He stabs them to death?” Suri choked.
