Don’t make friends.

Not that he needed the reminder. He snorted and held his arms up, showing her the bonds she’d put there. “You think we can be friends.”

Her head angled down, making her cloak fall even farther forward. “I think there’s a lot you don’t understand,” she murmured.

“And I think there’s a lot you don’t understand,” Tam countered. His voice low. Ominous. “Whatever reasons you have for being here are wrong. And whatever you think you know about these people is wrong too. They only care about themselves, and when the time comes, they will betray you.” He pointed to his bonds again and told her, “Just like they made you trap me.”

Silence stretched between them.

Then Glimmer grabbed her book and stalked away.

After London

“What happened?” Glimmer demanded, shoving her way into Tam’s room and closing the door behind her, pressing her back against it like she was trying to keep everyone out. “Where did you go? Why is Lady Gisela unconscious?”

Tam curled up tighter on his bed.

He couldn’t talk.

Couldn’t think.

Couldn’t stop shaking, shaking, shaking.

Glimmer crouched beside him, and her hood shifted in the process, giving Tam a glimpse of her long black hair.

Not that it mattered.

Nothing mattered.

Not after what he’d just done.

“What happened?” Glimmer asked again. “You can tell me.”

Don’t talk to anybody.

“You can trust me,” she added.

Don’t listen to anybody.

“I’m your friend,” she promised.

Don’t make friends.

And it hit Tam then, the absolute absurdity of his situation.

Friend.

She was the reason he’d just had to help Lady Gisela escape!

Laughter burst out of him at the reminder—cold, erratic sputters.

And when the frenzy passed, he told her, “You’re not my friend.”

The room dimmed with the words.

“I could be,” Glimmer said quietly. “I keep trying.”

“WHY?” Tam demanded.

Glimmer shrugged, picking up the tiny cat statue from his bedside table and trailing her finger along its curved tail. “It gets lonely here.”

“THEN GET OUT OF HERE!” he shouted. “Seriously, Glimmer. See these people for who they really are.”

“I do!” she insisted, reaching up to adjust her hood. Covering the few strands of her hair that had broken free.

Tam shook his head. “Then at least… just get out of my room.”

Glimmer took the cat statue with her.

Last Night

“So… this is it,” Glimmer said, leaning against the side of Tam’s doorway. “One more thing and… then you’re out of here.”

Tam let out a dark laugh. “One more thing.”

“What else am I supposed to call it?” Glimmer countered.

Which was true.

There were no words for the horror Lady Gisela was going to force him to do.

Or try to force him.

Please don’t let Keefe be there.

Please, just ONCE, let Keefe do what someone tells him to do.

Another dark, bitter laugh slipped through his lips as he considered the chances of that.

And please don’t let Linh be there.

Don’t let her see me like this.

“Wow, you really are always gloomy, aren’t you?” Glimmer asked, crossing her arms. “I thought you’d at least be relieved that it’s almost over.”

Tam shook his head, trying to decide if Glimmer could really be that naive, or if she was following some script Lady Gisela gave her to keep him hopeful and compliant.

“You really think she’s going to let me go after I ‘do the thing’ or whatever you want to call it.”

Glimmer nodded without the slightest hesitation. “You guys have a deal. Once you hold up your end, she’ll hold up hers.”

“Wow, you really believe that, don’t you?” Tam wondered.

“Of course. It’s only fair.”

“Fair,” Tam repeated, wondering why he was still talking. It didn’t matter.

Don’t make friends.

But he had to know. “Okay, tell me this, then,” he said slowly, stalking closer. “If I’m right—if Lady Gisela goes back on her word—would you do anything about it?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean”—he held up his wrists, showing her his bonds—“you’re the one with the power to set me free. And you think our deal is fair. So if I hold up my end—and Lady Gisela doesn’t hold up hers—would you step in and let me go?”

Glimmer backed up a step. “I… I don’t know.”

Tam snorted. “That’s what I thought.”

“Hey—you’re asking me if I’d betray—”

“Someone who would’ve just betrayed me,” Tam finished for her. “I’m asking if you’d betray a traitor to do the right thing.”

“I… I don’t know,” Glimmer repeated.

“Well,” Tam said slowly, pulling his sleeves back down to cover his bonds. “Maybe you should figure that out.”

He flipped his hood up over his head, covering his face.

Time to go.

Don’t let them break you.

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