"You really think someone was waiting for me?" I swallowed down the taste of bile, shuddering. "Waiting to catch me with a pure?"

Aiden looked me straight on. "Yes."

It was hard to wrap my head around that kind of tactic. I shuddered again. Aiden reached down and tucked the blanket around me, but then I jerked up, ruining his hard work.

"Are you feeling sick again?" He moved as if he would carry me off the bed.

I wasn't sure. The walls did feel like they were closing in around me, but it wasn't the effects of the brew. "I could've lost everything."

Aiden didn't respond, because really, what could he say?

My mind raced. There were so many things I could do with the power I would have. I'd learned one thing at the Council-I needed to be able to do something to change the lives of my kind. Seth had been right; we could do something about that as long as I made it to eighteen without being forced into servitude. If I were put on the elixir-which was what someone had intended last night by hoping to catch me with a pure-I might never Awaken. I'd lose such a huge opportunity-more than any half had ever had.

And someone had tried to take that from me at least three times in the last couple of weeks: the compulsion, the Council session, and now this? Telly had warned me if I messed up one more time, I'd be kept in New York.

Sleeping with a pure, willingly or not, would have classified as messing up.

"Alex, are you okay?"

My gaze dropped to his. I don't know what I saw in his eyes. I couldn't read them anymore. "Do you think Telly did this?"

Aiden blinked. "Minister Telly? I don't know, Alex. He's a lot of things, but to do this? And why?"

"He doesn't like me."

"Not liking you is one thing, but to destroy you? It has to be more than dislike, Alex. There has to be a reason."

Aiden had a point. "Then I need to find out why."

"We will find out why."

I nodded. "Right now, I just... I just want to leave here. I want to go home."

He leaned forward and placed his hand over mine, easing my fingers off the blanket I'd been gripping. "There's a late afternoon session, and we'll leave immediately afterward."

Surprisingly, I didn't feel very relieved by that. The plus side in all of this was I now knew not to take drinks from... it hit me then. I laughed.

Aiden's eyebrows furrowed with concern. "Alex?"

I shook my head. "I'm fine. It's just that damn oracle was right again. She warned me, did you know? She told me not to accept gifts from those who meant me harm." I laughed again. "Of course, she failed to mention that it would be a secondhand gift from someone who didn't mean me harm. Gods, if that woman were still alive, I'd hit her. Seriously."

His lips stretched into a lopsided grin and his hand tightened over mine. An old and familiar ache sprung alive at the sight of his smile, forcing me to look away. I swallowed, wanting nothing more than to climb into his arms. "Do you know where Seth is?"

"No. He left when he realized I wasn't leaving. He's around here somewhere."

I ran a hand over my face. I was surprised and kind of stung that he'd actually left me with Aiden, but I was happy that he had. Because that gave me time with Aiden-time in bed with Aiden. Which didn't make any sense. "I need to find him."

Aiden's hand left mine. "You shouldn't be worried about him right now. And I don't want you running around looking for him. It's not safe here."

"I know it's not, but I have to see him. You don't understand. Things-"

"Things are what, Alex?"

I turned toward him. He was frowning, eyes a deep and dark gray. "I don't know. Things are different with him." That was all I could say.

Aiden stared at me a moment, then straightened. "Are you two... seeing each other?"

My cheeks turned several shades of red.

His eyes turned silver in a nanosecond. "I thought you were against this whole fate thing."

"I am! But... I don't know. Things have just changed and... he's been there for me," I finished lamely.

A muscle started ticking along his jaw. "And I haven't been. So you decided to be with Seth?"

I gaped at him, but then my temper shot to the surface. "No, you haven't been. But that's not why I'm with Seth."

"Really?" He pushed off the bed. Standing, he ran his hand through his hair. "I find that hard to believe since you told me a few days ago you hated him."

I flushed, partly because he was right and that pissed me off. "Why do you even care, Aiden? You can't-and don't-want me. And you even said you thought Seth cared about me. Or is this one of those lame lines like 'I don't want you but I don't want you with anyone else?' Because that's so not cool."

He dropped his hand. "That is not what this is about, Alex. I just don't want to see you getting wrapped up in something... so serious for the wrong reasons."

My gaze flicked up, meeting his. His eyes burned so brightly, taking up his whole face. "You've told me we can't be together and-and I know. I know we can't, but-"

Aiden bent quickly, leaning down so our faces were only inches from one another. "But that doesn't mean you should settle for Seth, Alex."

I crushed the blanket in my hands. "I'm not settling for Seth!"

He quirked an eyebrow and held my glare with his own.

Then it hit me and my heart sped up. "This isn't even about Seth. This is about you! You don't want to see me with him or anyone else! Because you still care about me!"

Aiden jerked back, shaking his head. "Of course I care for you."

I drew in a deep breath, trying to quell my racing heart. "Tell me... tell me that you feel the same way I do about you, because if you do..." I couldn't bring myself to actually say it. If he told me that he felt the same way-that he loved me-then to hell with everything else. To hell with it all, because I would not-could not walk away from that. No matter how wrong it was, how I'd resolved to let him go, and no matter how dangerous it would be for the both of us. I simply couldn't.

Aiden inhaled sharply. "I won't."

"Or you can't?"

He shook his head again, eyes flickering shut. A quick grimace pulled at his lips, and then he looked me dead on. "I don't."

I exhaled harshly, suddenly wanting to curl up in a ball and cry. But I didn't. I'd brought this on myself. "Okay."

"Alex, I want-"

"No. I don't want to hear anything else." I pushed off the bed. "What I have with Seth is none of your-" A rush of dizziness made me stumble. I bent, grabbing the edge of the bed for support.

"Alex?" Aiden moved around the bed, reaching for me.

"Don't!" I threw up my hand. "Don't pretend you care. That takes douchebaggery to a whole new level."

Aiden stopped, opening and closing his hands. "Good point."

The room righted itself and it felt safe to move again. Ignoring Aiden and the need to wail like a baby, I started the mortifying search for my clothes. I gathered up my jeans and hoodie, tucking them under my arm. One very important, very embarrassing item hadn't been located. I scanned the floors rather desperately.

"I think this belongs to you."

Cursing under my breath, I turned around. Aiden dangled something black, small and flimsy from his fingertips.

Color burst across my face. I snatched it out of his hand. "Thanks."

Aiden didn't smile. "It's my pleasure."

CHAPTER 25.

I WENT THROUGH MY MORNING ROUTINE SLOWLY,.

still feeling a bit whacked. Part of me wanted to dive under the covers, another part wanted to strangle Aiden, and I still needed to find Seth.

I also needed to deal with the fact that someone seriously didn't want me to turn eighteen. I pushed down the ball of conflicting emotions to dwell on some other day-which I felt sure would be a day very soon-and opened the door. Aiden stood there, waiting. He was there because I obviously couldn't be allowed to be anywhere by myself, but I still wanted to punch him in the face.

Our walk downstairs was awkward.

A few Guards who had been present during the Council session nodded respectfully as I passed them. That was an improvement from being ignored. Aiden left me when I stopped at the linen-covered tables. I guess he figured I was safe within eyesight.

I stared at the plate of fresh croissants and bagels, swallowing thickly. I didn't think I could ever eat again. I grabbed a bottle of water and shuffled to where Aiden sat beside Marcus. Marcus didn't look up from his newspaper when I dropped into the seat beside him.

I could feel Aiden's eyes on me and I wanted to bang my head on the table. Instead of doing that, I twisted around and stared across the cafeteria. I pretended to be engrossed in the wall until I noticed the two servants standing by it.

It was him-the clear-eyed one I'd seen the first day here and tried to talk to in the stairwell. He leaned toward the other half-blood, a boy. I couldn't help but wonder how the pures-the Masters-couldn't see how alert this Brown Eyes was.

Brown Eyes must have sensed me watching, because he turned and looked me straight in the eye. Not quite a hostile look, maybe a little curious. He quickly turned back to the other servant. I don't know why I watched them for so long. It may've been how tense their conversation seemed. Half-blood servants rarely argued, even among themselves. They were usually too medicated to even hold a decent conversation, but these two were different.

"Where were you last night, Alexandria? This morning, you were not in your bed."

Marcus's question jerked me around. I said the one thing that I knew Marcus wouldn't question and was sort of true. "I was with Seth. We were talking and I fell asleep."

"Really?" He nodded at the double doors leading to the patio. Seth stood there, his back to us. "So are you the one who gave him that black eye?"

"Uh..." I was already standing. "I'll see you guys in a little bit."

Marcus made a noise that sounded a lot like a chuckle and went back to his paper. I found it disturbing that he'd find the idea of domestic violence so humorous.

Taking a deep breath, I cut between the empty tables and followed Seth outside, not daring a look back to see Aiden's expression. Seth didn't turn around, but I knew he felt me. His shoulders tensed as he leaned against the one of thick marble columns.

I shivered in the chilly air, wondering why I hadn't brought a jacket. I stopped next to him and stared across the grounds. The top of the mammoth wall surrounding the place peeked over the tree line. I hoped he'd say something first, but the minutes passed and Seth remained silent. He wasn't going to make any of this easy.

"Hey," I said, immediately feeling stupid.

"Hey."

I rolled my eyes and stepped in front of him. Seth stared down at me coolly. Up close, the purple and blue ring around his left eye looked brutal. "Does that hurt?"

"Don't you think that's a stupid question?"

"Do you want another black eye?" I snapped.

He arched an eyebrow. "I think I prefer the drunken version of you. She's much nicer."

I stepped back. "You know what? Forget it."

Seth reached out and caught my arm. "What do you want to talk about? How disgusted you are with me?"

"No," I stared at him in surprise. "That's not what I was going to say at all."

Some of the coolness slipped from his expression, but he still regarded me warily. "Then why did you want to talk to me?"

"I want to talk about... last night." I felt my cheeks burn. "It wasn't your fault."

His brows flew up. "Not my fault?"

"No." I glanced over his shoulder, spotting the pure-blood Council Guard who had taken out Hector. He stood by the glass door leading out to the patio, trying to appear as if he wasn't watching us. "Can we go somewhere private?"

Seth looked over his shoulder. "Let's go."

We ended up a few rows into the labyrinth. Being in here left a bad taste in my mouth, but there was really no other place that was private. Seth leaned against the stone wall and folded his arms. "So talk."

I swallowed uncomfortably. This would be so awkward. "I wanted to apologize for... well, for everything that happened last night."

"You're apologizing to me?" He sounded stunned.

Shifting to my other foot, I nodded. "I know you tried to get me to sit down and not do what I was doing. You tried to-"

"I didn't try hard enough, Alex." He pushed off the wall. "Aiden's right-gods, I can't even believe I'm saying that, but he is. I knew you weren't yourself. So I should've stopped it."

My gaze followed him. He plucked a rose off a bush next to an armless gray statue of a woman in an ill-fitted toga. "You did stop, Seth."

He shot me a bland look over his shoulder. "You and I both know why I stopped. It wasn't out of chivalry."

I didn't believe that-not entirely. "Seth, you aren't the bad guy in this. You were sort of drugged, too-through our connection. And you took care of me afterward."