Chapter 9: He Knew

Everything in me went cold, even with him still inside me.

"Say that again," I said.

"I knew you were awake."

I put my palms on his chest and shoved.

He pulled out of me, and I scrambled back across the rug and snatched the nearest blanket from the sofa.

Nobody spoke.

Stefan pushed himself up on one elbow, still bare, and looked from me to Tobias.

"What did he say?" he asked.

"He knew," I said. "From the stairs. He knew I was awake, and he let you all keep going."

Jonas stared at Tobias.

"You knew," he said. "You stopped Felix. You sat in that chair and watched Stefan and me."

"Yes."

"You let me think she was unconscious."

"Yes."

Felix said nothing at all, and he looked sick.

I stood up with the blanket around my shoulders and walked out of the lounge.

My legs were not steady, and I did not look back.

The boot room was at the end of the back corridor, a narrow stone room with wet floors and a row of hooks.

It was freezing.

I leaned against the wall with my eyes shut and my hands shaking.

I had been so sure I held the secret.

Footsteps came down the corridor, and he stopped in the doorway.

He had pulled on his trousers and nothing else.

"Go away, Tobias," I said.

"No."

"You made a fool of me."

"I didn't."

"You watched me lie there and let me think I was the only one who knew."

"Yes," he said. "That part is true."

I crossed the stone floor and slapped him as hard as I could.

The crack bounced off the walls.

His head turned with it.

When he faced me again, there was a red mark on his cheekbone, and he was smiling.

"Thank you," he said.

"What?"

"For doing that. Because I wanted you awake and furious, Verena, never asleep."

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