“She was in class,” Leon responded. “Linard was waiting for her to leave. And no one expected Telly to be here. Not with everything that is happening in New York.”

Marcus cut a dangerous look at Linard. “If you have to sit in class with her, then do it.”

“It’s not his fault,” I said. “No one can watch me every second of the day.”

Aiden cursed. “Is that all you’ll do? She is your niece, Marcus. He hit your nieceand that’s your answer?”

Marcus’ eyes deepened to a bright green. “I am well aware of the fact that she is my niece, Aiden. And do not think for one second that I found any of this,” he threw his hand toward me, “acceptable. I will contact the Council immediately. I do not care that she is a half-blood. Telly has no right.”

I shifted my weight. “The Council is going to care? Seriously? You guys beat the crap out of servants all the time. Why would I be any different?”

“You are not a servant,” Marcus said, storming to his desk.

“Does that make it okay?” I shouted, my hands curling into fists. “It’s okay to beat servants because of their blood? And it’s not okay because I have half—” I cut myself off before I revealed too much. All eyes were on me.

Behind his desk, Marcus took a deep breath and briefly closed his eyes. “Are you okay, Alexandria?”

“I’m just peachy.”

Aiden took my arm. “I’m taking her to the clinic.”

I pulled my arm free. “I’ll be fine.”

“He hityou,” Aiden seethed, eyes flashing.

“And it will just bruise, okay? That’s not the problem.” I needed to be out of this room, away from all of them. I needed to think. “I just want to go back to my room.”

Marcus froze with the phone halfway to his ear. “Aiden, make sure she makes it back to her room. And I want her to stay there until we find out what Telly is up to or until he leaves. I will contact Lucian and the rest of the Council,” Marcus said, and his gaze found Aiden’s again. “I mean it. She is not to leave the room.”

I was too busy going over everything that had happened to care about Marcus sentencing me to my dorm. And if Lucian found out about what’d happened, then that meant Seth would, too. At least there was one bright lining in the cloud of crud. If Seth were here, he’d probably kill Telly.

Marcus stopped me at the door. “Alexandria?”

I turned around, hoping he’d make this fast. Bitch me out for antagonizing Telly, tell me not to do again, and warn me about my bad behavior.

He met my stare. “I am sorry that I was not here to stop him. This will not happen again.”

My uncle had an alien in him. I blinked slowly. Before I could say anything, he went back to his phone call. Sort of stunned, I let Aiden guide me out of the office and down the hall.

Once the door in the stairwell closed behind us, Aiden blocked the stairs. “I want to know what happened.”

“I just want to go back to my room.”

“I’m not asking, Alex.”

I didn’t answer, and finally Aiden turned around stiffly and went down the stairs. I followed behind him slowly. Classes were still in session, so the stairwell and the first floor lobby were virtually empty with the exception of some Guards and Instructors. We walked back to my dorm in silence, but I knew he wasn’t going to let this go. Aiden was just biding his time, so I wasn’t entirely surprised when he followed me into my room, closing the door behind him.

I dropped my bag and ran my hands through my hair. “Aiden.”

He grasped my chin like he’d done in Marcus’ office, tilting my head to the side. His jaw tightened. “How did this happen?”

How bad did it look? “I guess I didn’t respond correctly after the first time.”

“He hit you twice?”

Embarrassed, I pulled away and sat on the couch. I was trained to fight and defend myself. I’d walked away from daimon battles with scratches. This whole situation made me feel weak and helpless.

“You shouldn’t be here,” I said finally. “I know Marcus said to make sure I stayed in my room, but it shouldn’t be you.”

Aiden stood in front of the small coffee table, hands on his hips. His posture reminded me so much of our training sessions—the one he got when he knew I was going to push back on something. He was digging in for the long haul. “Why?”

I laughed and then winced. “You shouldn’t be around me. I think Telly has someone watching me—us.”

There wasn’t an ounce of panic in those silver eyes. “You need to tell me what happened, Alex. Don’t even think about lying to me. I’ll know.”

Closing my eyes, I shook my head. “I don’t know if I can.”

I heard Aiden move around the table and sit on its edge in front of me. His hand pressed against my other cheek. “You can tell me anything. You know that. I will help you always. How can you doubt that?”

“I don’t doubt that.” I opened my eyes, ashamed to find they felt damp.

Confusion flickered across his face. “Then why can’t you tell me?”

“Because… because I don’t want you to worry.”

Aiden frowned. “You’re always thinking about someone else when you should be more concerned about yourself.”

I snorted. “That’s so not true. I’ve been really self-centric lately.”

He laughed softly, but when the rich sound faded, so did his brief smile. “Alex, talk to me.”

The terror and panic returned. I’m not sure they’d ever really left. The words just came out. “Telly knows.”

A slight narrowing of his eyes was his only reaction. “How much?”

“He knows I killed a pure-blood,” I whispered. “And he knows either Seth or a pure covered it up.”

Aiden said nothing.

I really started to freak out. “He’s definitely part of the Order, and I think he’s the one who sent the Guard to kill me. It’s the only way he could know unless the compulsion—”

“The compulsion hasn’t faded.” Aiden dragged his hand over his head. Dark waves tumbled through his fingers. “We would know. I’d be arrested by now.”

“Then the only way he would know is if he sent the Guard to kill me.”

Aiden clasped the back of his neck. “Are you sure he knows?”

I laughed harshly as I gestured at my cheek. “He did this when I wouldn’t admit to it.”

The silver in his eyes burned. “I want to kill him.”

“Me too, but that’s not really going to help things.”

He flashed me a wild smile. “But it would make us feel better.”

“Damn, you’ve gotten dark. Funny, but dark.”

Aiden shook his head. “What did he say, exactly?”

I told him the questions Telly had asked. “You know, the only good thing about this is that he didn’t think using my father had any pull on me. But he said that, if I turn myself in, he wouldn’t push to find the pure who covered for me. If I didn’t tell him, then he would go after every pure who seems to tolerate me: you, Laadan, Leon, even Marcus. I guess he doesn’t think he can get Seth or he’s afraid of him.”

“Alex—”

“I don’t know what to do.” I pushed off the couch, sidestepping him. I prowled the length of the small living room, feeling caged. I stopped, my back to Aiden. “I’m screwed, you know that, right?”

“Alex, we’ll think of something.” I felt him come up behind me. “This isn’t the end. There are always options.”

“Options?” I crossed my arms. “There were options when the Guard tried to kill me, and I chose the wrong one. I made a huge mistake, Aiden. I can’t fix that. And you know what? I don’t even think he cares about that Guard.”

“I know,” he replied softly. “I think he sent that Guard knowing that you’d be able to defend yourself, that you would probably even kill the Guard. It makes sense.”

I turned around. “It does?”

He nodded, eyes narrowing. “It’s the perfect set-up, Alex. Telly sends the Guard to kill you, knowing there would be a good chance that you’d fight back and kill the Guard out of self-defense.”

“And self-defense means nothing in this world.”

“Exactly. So Telly would have you then. No one could stop him from having you killed or at least placing you into servitude. He puts you on the elixir and you don’t Awaken. Problem solved, except Telly didn’t expect a pure to use compulsion and cover it up for you.”