Page 124 of Lethal Attraction

“Thalia!”

She turns, a beat of a somber expression playing across her features, before she sobers quickly and meets me halfway.

“Hi,” she says quietly, lifting on her toes and kissing me.

It’s quick and not at all what I’m used to from her. It’s really starting to mess with my head.

“What’s going on?” I ask softly. “Why is everyone acting so weird?”

Her expression falls a little. It’s such a minor, quick change that I almost don’t catch it. “Um,” she looks away from me, exhaling deeply. “We’re all just…on edge.”

It’s the truth, but it’s not her truth. There’s something else going on. Why would she lie to me?

I take her hand in mine, intertwining our fingers. She stops breathing as she stares down at where we connect.

“You’re still leaving with me, right?” I ask as I brush her hair behind her ear. “If you want to stay with your family, we can cancel the tickets—”

“No!” she says abruptly before swallowing and offering me a shaky smile. “No, uh, I just need to help Rowan with something real quick and I’ll meet you there, okay? Taryn and Emma are riding separately. They said they have room for you.”

I blink, my head rearing slightly. “Oh…I just thought—”

“I’ll be super quick, okay?” She says before pressing up on her toes and capturing my lips. The kiss we share is slow and sensual, yet all I can think of is how it doesn’t feel completely like her.

She pulls away too fast, and I use her hand to drag her back to me before she can dip off into the crowd. My fingers dust over her temple, and the feeling of her skin beneath mine is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before.

“Thalia, there’s something I need to tell you—”

She presses her fingertips to my lips, silencing me as she shakes her head, and I swear I see tears welling in her eyes. “No, Reed.”

I take her wrist. “Just let me—”

“Shhh,” she shushes me, tilting her head as she bites her bottom lip. “You need to go, okay? I’ll be right behind you.”

That expression isn’t right. I don’t like the way she’s looking at me right now…

“Okay…” I whisper. Because I trust her. She wouldn’t do this to us.

As we part, it’s slow. Until our fingers no longer brush and we no longer share heat. I’m left feeling empty and cold where I stand. My chest twinges sharply.

Because that just felt like a goodbye.

My first sign should have been the tickets. It seems so obvious now.

Addison and Loxley left hours before us with little more than a wave and a promise to see us soon. At the time, I barely thought about it. There had been too much noise, too many people, too much chaos surrounding the war to question something as simple as train schedules.

Now I know it was never a coincidence.

It was a plan.

Taryn and Emma have already boarded by the time I reach the platform. I stand frozen, mine and Thalia’s bags hanging heavily from my hands as I stare at the open train door waiting for me. My pulse pounds against my ribs with every passing second. The conductor calls the final boarding warning, his voice distant beneath the roar of blood rushing through my ears.

Every instinct inside me is screaming that something is terribly wrong.

Then someone steps beside me. I don’t need to look because I see his reflection in the train window.

Rowan.

My stomach drops. The answer settles in my chest before either of us says a word. It’s piercing betrayal that cuts deep.