Endless Knight

34

MATTHEW! Answer me this minute!

I’d just reached my tower, was nearly hyperventilating from Death’s reveal.

In his mocking tone, the Reaper had explained that not only had Jack ended Mom’s life so I’d run away with him, but that Matthew—my supposed best friend and ally—had known all along and decided not to tell me.

I’d stormed out, calling Death a liar and much worse. But I feared deep down that the bastard had spoken the truth.

—Empress?—

Death told me things about my mother. About Jack. Did the Reaper lie to me?

—No.—

I squeezed my eyes shut. Matthew, why didn’t you tell me? Why let me be with Jack? I replayed his behavior the morning Mom had passed away. He’d been shaken, almost stunned. Though the Army of the Southeast had been closing in on us, he’d tried so hard to give Mom a decent burial—I’d thought as a kindness to her, or even to me. Now I realized it might have been guilt that had driven him.

I’d slept with that boy, had given him my heart. And all the while he’d known what he’d done. He’d berated me for keeping things from him? Then he’d looked me in the eyes and said, “I got no secrets, peekôn.”

Other than escorting my mother to the other side? He was worse than Death!

When I’d explained to Jack that nothing was more important than trust, he’d assured me that I could trust him alone. No wonder Matthew had called him Dee-vee-oh. Devious!

Maybe you could’ve given me a heads-up, telling me not to fall in love with him?

—Whenever he helps, he hurts.—

How many times had Matthew told me that?

—Your mother wanted you gone before army descended. End was near.—

Unless I could’ve gotten her help! Yes, she’d been in dire straits, but surely there had to have been a better way. So Jack assisted her suicide while I was asleep in my bed? And he did it so I’d leave with him?

Silence.

Because he’d been hard-up for me since learning I was his brother’s girl! So how’d he do it? Suffocated Mom with a pillow? I stifled a sob. Helped her OD?

—I looked away.—

Fury blazed inside me. Even with the cuff, my hair began turning red, my claws struggling to bud. Looked away as she died? It was like he’d . . . he’d deserted her. You bastard! Why didn’t you foresee what would happen to her, before she’d even gotten hurt? Maybe warned me not to let her go out?

—Matthew knows best.—

His tone was eerie, his words a disturbing echo of his mother’s—“Mother knows best”—when she’d been about to drown him. This is unforgivable. What else have you kept from me? I trusted you!

—The Empress is my friend.—

No longer! Don’t ever contact me again!

—I won’t talk so loud.— Then his presence in my head vanished.

I had never felt so betrayed and alone.

Since my mother’s passing, Jack and Matthew had been the only constants in all this terror and misery; now those anchors were gone.

I was completely adrift, trapped in the Castle of Lost Time.

Tears pricked my eyes, and I let them fall.