Death to Honor

Chapter Three

I returned to the mansion, passing the guard from earlier by the right shoulder, as he was stationed by the door.

He was young, maybe twenty-two. Muddy brown hair. His dark eyes flitted toward me, filled with suspicion, although he didn't turn his head. I noticed his jaw clench as I walked by.

Then I was inside the hallway, the rush of warm air greeting my flushed, cold-bitten face. I rounded the corner and entered the ballroom.

Just as my foot crossed the threshold, the mysterious door on the opposite side of the room opened, and a group exited, casually laughing and talking with each other. Mostly middle-aged men, a few were women, and about a fifth in their lower thirties.

A lump grew in my throat as I wondered what had happened to that man, Jeffrey. I didn't see him in the disturbingly jovial group. The Nights had never been so blithe after a meeting—Annora was their stark opposite.

My heart jumped when I spotted Rendell. He was towards the edge of the assembly and glancing around the room expectantly, his brow furrowed.

He found me and took quick steps toward me.

"Hey," I said, as he approached, "How'd it go—"

Rendell didn't stop. He grabbed my arm and towed me out of the room, into the hallway. On our way out, we passed the guard, who once again narrowed his eyes at me. Rendell gave him a hard look in passing.

He continued pulling me down the steps, onto the gravel drive.

"Hang on! I don't have my coat," I protested.

"No," he said, his voice sharp and low.

My eyes zeroed in on his face.

It held a hard expression, and he was making subtle glances left and right. His grip on my arm tightened.

"Don't look back," he ordered.

"What's going on?" I demanded.

"I'll tell you when you're safe."

At the end of the drive, by the busy street, Rendell hailed a cab. He hurried us inside and gave an address to the driver. I didn't recognize it.

Once we'd driven a few streets, I turned toward Rendell with a quizzical expression and opened my mouth to speak.

He silenced me with a sharp look.

A few streets later, we switched cabs, then we arrived back in front of my apartment.

Rendell paid the cabbie a lot more than was necessary. To keep him silent.

I walked up to the door and pulled out my key, but it fumbled in my shaking hands, missing the lock.

Rendell grabbed it and unlocked the door, pushing me inside, then swiftly locked it behind us. He instantly turned and checked all my windows, and drew the curtains closed. Only then did his shoulders loosen, but the intense look still lingered in his dark eyes.

I watched his expression as he came back to me.

He stared at me with a tired expression, hands in his pockets.

"Jeffrey Stevens," he finally said. "The man that so stupidly made an outburst this evening. The Committee will see to him."

"See to him?" I asked.

Rendell shrugged, letting out a breath. He opened his mouth, then closed it, clenching his jaw, as if the word was stuck on his tongue.

"Kill him."

I froze, thoughts racing in my mind. "But the Annora don't just kill people." I ran a hand through my hair, trying to find the reason for this imbalance in the scales of my knowledge. "They're—They're good. Annora doesn't do that. That's why I helped them, that's why I'm helping you!"

Ren was staring at the floor, fiddling his hat in his hands. "Verity, I . . ." He trailed off.

"What is it? What is going on? I don't know what's happening, you have to tell me!" I said quickly. So many things were happening without my knowledge, so many questions without answers, and so many more questions I hadn't even found yet.

He looked up at me, with grief in his eyes. "Verity," he started again, pausing to take a deep, shuttered breath. "I haven't been honest with you."

"I've used you, for my own benefit, for my own gain," he continued.

"You're joking," I stated, there was no way Rendell was only looking out for himself, I refused to believe it. Sheer panic started to rise, but I pushed it away. "You're lying," I repeated, much quieter. My voice started to fail me.

Rendell shook his head. "I wish I was, I really do. But the truth is, I've kept records of the information you've told me . . . about the Nights."

"As you should," I said, my words jumbling together, "It's important stuff, I didn't think you wouldn't write it down."

"And I have records on you." Ren paused. "Stuff you didn't tell me."

I fell silent. Watching him. Watching him become what I thought he wasn't.

"I have contacts, people who aren't Annora, and I—" He couldn't even look at me anymore. Why couldn't he look at me? What did he do? What did he find out about me?

"I sold them the information you gave me."

A fire blazed up within me. "You did what?!"

He stared at the floor. In all these months of knowing him, I'd never seen him like this. Guilty. Ashamed. But I didn't care about what he felt at the moment, he'd betrayed me in multiple ways, all this time. Who knows how much more he did?

"It was an old friend," he started.

"I don't care if it was a friend! You sold him our secrets, my secrets! You betrayed me, I trusted you!" I shouted. I stepped away from him as I felt my anger rise, as if I couldn't stand to be near him. "I was your friend," I said quietly. "Me."

"I know, and we still are friends, please, Verity, listen to me," Rendell pleaded, his face contorted with more emotion than I'd seen. "Let me explain."

I shook my head, just three heartbeats away from crying. "No. I trusted you with my life, you were my only friend, and you deceived me." I grabbed the first coat and hat off the rack and unlocked the door.

"Verity, no, you have to hear me," he stepped towards me.

"Stop. Don't you dare come after me. Our partnership is over." I opened the door and left, shutting the door firmly behind me. The sound of the door closing echoed over and over in my mind as I left the apartment.

The wind bit sharply and I shrugged on the oversized coat and donned the hat.

That's all our friendship had been to Rendell, a partnership, a simple business transaction. He'd helped me away from the Nights, and in return, he sold the information I trusted him with to some random contact. A stranger.

My secrets were leaked to the world, everything I wanted to stay buried. I might see my name in the papers tomorrow for all I know.

I'd thought I could start over, but now the darkness could chase me anywhere.