going?” I ask.
She doesn’t answer. She simply walks down the hallway.
“Is there something important I need to see?” I ask, prodding her again. I don’t care what she says.
We go downstairs, and she pauses near the dining room. The guards pull the doors open. Eli sits at the dining table. Alone. My feet are frozen to the floor.
Why did Mary bring me here?
What is going on?
Mary nudges me forward, pulling me from my thoughts. “Go on. Don’t make him wait.”
I swallow as I approach the table. All the seats are empty except for the one Eli is sitting in. Who would have so many seats at a table without inviting the guests to fill them? What’s the point?
I sit down on my usual seat, far away from him.
Eli merely stares at me, his palms on the table as he cocks his head. One rough growl leaves his mouth. “Closer.”
I suck in a breath and contemplate my options, but when I glance over my shoulder and spot all the guards standing in line, I know there are none. So I scoot my chair back and get up, shoving it aside as I walk beside the table, gliding my hand across every chair until his eyes rest upon one of them, the one nearest to him.
When I sit down, he says, “Good girl.”
“Why did you bring me here?” I ask.
“I’m just curious what you thought about that get-together you had,” he says, cocking his head.
I make a face. “Fine.”
“Really?” He snorts. “Doesn’t look like it went fine to me.” He adjusts his tie. “In fact, I think you didn’t like the answers you heard.”
I place my hands on the table in front of me, but it doesn’t stop the tension from building.
“Those girls are here because of what they did, and they all know,” he says.
“They’re lying,” I say through gritted teeth. “You’ve brainwashed them.”
“That’s what you’re telling yourself to feel better about your own decision. But you know just as well that you too chose to come here.” He takes a deep breath and sighs. “You couldn’t stop yourself from trying to create another uprising, could you?”
When I don’t respond, he smiles at me and snaps his fingers. Out of nowhere, the servers come in with trays of food. And it’s at that moment that I realize …
Mary normally always brings food to my room around this time of day.
My eyes briskly flash from the clock to him. “What are you doing?”
“Having breakfast,” he replies.
Plates are pushed in front of me while my hands begin to shake violently.
Breakfast.
That same breakfast we already shared this week.
My lips quiver. “But it’s not my turn.”
His eyes narrow. “Not your turn?”
He eyes me while my hand hovers over the fork and knife near my plate. For a second there, I contemplate actually picking them up and throwing them at him.
Because all of this … feels like I just ran straight into a trap.
“Why do you think you’re here?” he says.
“I only eat with you at this table once a week,” I mutter, staring blankly at him.
Whose turn is it? And why aren’t they here?
“And now you eat with me twice a week,” he replies, grabbing a piece of bread. “Rules change.”
“No, they don’t,” I retort. “Not with you.”
Right before he shoves the bread into his mouth, he pauses. “What do you really want to ask me? Spill it.”
I hold my breath, my heart pounding so hard it feels as though it’s about to explode from my chest. There is only one thing that changed. One person who could possibly cause him to suddenly deviate from his regular schedule.
Anna.
“Where is Anna? What did you do with her?” I ask, grinding my teeth as my body begins to shudder. “Why isn’t she here?”
He takes a big bite from his bread and swallows it down before answering. “You don’t have to worry about her.”
My eyes widen.
She didn’t talk to me for days, and I thought it was because of something I said. But maybe she’s been gone all this time.
Nausea overtakes me, and I scoot back my chair as far away from the food as possible.
What if they punished her for trying to escape with me?
For trying to kill herself?
Eli gazes at me as though he’s waiting for my response, but there isn’t any.
None of this is right.
This is all a test.
My pupils dilate as the realization of this simple truth hits me. It’s as if all the blood leaves my face.
What if they hurt her?
What if she’s