She looked around, wildly.
She wasn’t in her room. She was inhis.
The walls were plain, but the ceiling was solid gold. The floors were stone. All the windows were covered in heavy fabrics.
Oro took a step back from the bed, noting her gaze—and possibly her panic. “I brought you here after I found you. I figured you wouldn’t want others to know what had happened.”
None of it made sense.
Why had Oro saved her?
He claimed he hadn’t betrayed her ... that their plan was still on. That all his actions were inserviceof their quest to find the heart.
Lies. Too many to count.
There are lies and liars all around .. .
Oro continued. “She finally took me there tonight. That’s how I found you. I was on Moon Isle, in the maze. The heart wasn’t there, which is good, because I suspect Cleo would have tried to take it ... But now we have just two places left to search.”
We.There was noweanymore.
She shook her head. Tears fell down her cheeks, his betrayal still raw. “This isn’t just about changing matches.” Her voice broke. She hated it. “I trusted you. I—You.You told them. You—”
Oro closed his eyes for just a moment. “I know. I’m sorry. Truly. Cleo had become suspicious. She knew we had visited Moon Isle the day before, somehow.” Isla thought of the bird. Her spy. It had spotted them. “The only way to convince her to help me was to discard you. Publicly. Your reaction and actions in the last few weeks had to be genuine.”
That wasn’t a good enough reason. She opened her mouth to tell him so, but he continued.
“And,” he said, “my sources told me Cleo has become increasingly convinced that Starling must be the one to die.”
What?Isla barely resisted the urge to shoot up in alarm.
“That makes no sense. She wantsmedead.”
Oro frowned. “Cleo would have killed you tonight if she wanted you gone.”
“She nearly did,” she said, exasperated. If Oro hadn’t saved her, she would have been someone’s meal. “Why would she choose Starling?”
“She believes Starling is the weakest of us. It is the smallest realm. The least developed in the last five hundred years due to their curse.”
Isla’s voice shook as she said, “You ... you don’t agree, do you?”
He shook his head. “No. Starling is essential. I told your secret not just to get Cleo to trust me but also to cast doubt on her decision. Before, when Cleo and Celeste were paired, she couldn’t kill her. When I changed them—”
“She could have gone directly for Celeste,” Isla finished.
Oro nodded. “Exactly.”
Isla didn’t think Cleo even cared about following the rules or winning the power promised. Not if she was the one who had spun the curses.
Though, if Oro was right, and sharing her secret had saved Celeste ... she was grateful.
Everything he said sounded logical. If he was telling the truth, then everything he had done in the last two weeks was to keep her and their plan safe.
She shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”
“I have never lied to you, Isla.” He took a step closer. “Even though you have lied to me repeatedly.” Another step. “You told me your secret. Now let me tell you my flair. No one can lie to me.” She remembered his words from the cave. “Because I know when people are lying.”
His flair.Isla blinked.
