She pulled back unthinkingly, her heart breaking when her Master whitened at her rejection. “Master, I…” But she was still at a loss for words. What was there to say when he had good as killed all her hopes?
“Look at me.” A command. “Is it that bad?” His voice was almost violent. “Tell me. Is it that bad, being my pet? Have I ever made you feel that you don’t matter to me?”
He reached for her again, and this time she let him. But the moment their hands touched, she went still, her eyes turning completely white.
Alexandru stilled as well, knowing that she was about to have another vision.
BLUE. SO, SO DARK, but it was blue. The darkest shade of blue, like sapphires kissed by death.
Choking. She was choking, and she was struggling against something. Not someone. Something. Inhuman. Too strong. Too fast. One moment, breathing was a part of life. The next moment, breathing had become a luxury.
WHEN SHE CAME BACK, she was in her Master’s arms, a place that was once her haven. But now?
“Let me go,” she whispered.
Because she sounded like she was so close to breaking down, he released her reluctantly. “What did you see?”
Zari shook her head. Not meeting his gaze, she said, “Master, I had a vision when I touched you.”
Alexandru’s face became expressionless. “And?”
“Did you really come back mid-hunt because of me?” A little laugh escaped her, the sound tinged with hysteria. “You made me think it was because of me, Master. Please don’t deny it. Everyone thinks the same thing. Even Lord Erou.”
“Zari—-”
“But you didn’t, did you?” Her eyes became glassy. “You came here because the hunt is here now. The demon you’re hunting is here now, and you couldn’t even be honest with me about it.” She took another step back, as if just his nearness now poisoned her. “Master, right now, I don’t even feel like I’m your pet.”
“It’s not like that,” he gritted out. “Zari—-”
Her voice started to rise. “Right now, I can’t stop myself from thinking about why you were looking for me in the first place. God…” Her voice broke. “I just can’t stop thinking like I’m a tool to you. That you came back here because you might need me to see—-”
“IT’S NOT LIKE THAT.”
“How can I believe you,” she cried out, “when I know that it’s for her you’ve become a hunter? That you want her to be proud of every successful hunt, that you want to prove everyone wrong, the people who stood in your way—-”
He hauled her into his arms. “It’s not like that.” He cupped her face, wanting her to see the truth in his eyes. “It’s not like that.”
But she didn’t answer, and her body remained cold and unresponsive in his arms.
“YOU DON’T NEED TO HIDE your sadness from me.” The practical advice came from Rhapsody as they headed to the dorm where Miranda Donnelly lived.
Her Master had been gone for three days, hunting down the demon she had seen in her vision. If she had one iota of sense in her, Zari thought miserably, she wouldn’t care that Alexandru was gone.
Zari heard herself asking, “How did you get to be so strong? How do you do it? How have you survived without your Master for so long?” Pained bewilderment had her shaking her head. “I mean, you’re under suspicion for murder and you don’t even seem to care.”
“I don’t.”
Zari’s jaw dropped.
“I know I didn’t kill that man. The Master knows the same thing. He believes in me. That’s all that matters. He won’t let anything happen to me.” The other girl’s face remained expressionless all throughout, and her voice was a mirror of it.
“I wish I could be as strong as you,” she muttered.
“I’m not being strong, Lady Zari. I’m only being practical.”
They stopped in front of Miranda’s dorm. “Well, what we’re about to do isn’t practical.”
The tall girl beside her nodded. “I agree. So why are we doing it again?”
“Because it’s the only thing we can do. We have no evidence against her, I don’t want to battle a demon, and I’m too impatient to wait for additional information about her Master. She’s our best bet.”
“So we will be playing the good cop, bad cop routine?”
Zari nodded. “It should work.”
It didn’t.
Fifteen minutes in the Madonna’s presence, and Zari and Rhapsody had only succeeded in making more enemies for themselves. Although Miranda had agreed to speak with them alone, she hadn’t really done much talking. Also, she wasn’t alone. Instead, the other girl only cried her eyes out and managed to look like the prettiest bully victim in school, the way her big blue eyes welled up with unshed tears.
“I just don’t understand why you’re doing this to me,” Miranda sniffed. Her soft voice shook with every word, and around them Zari could feel the girl’s friends glaring even more malevolently at them.