A mirthless smile twitched the corner of Ranjit’s mouth. ‘I’d like to think that’s true.’
‘You’re telling me you meant to try and kill me?’ Richard raised his hands in mock horror.
‘Stop fooling, Halton-Jones.’ Ranjit turned his head and stared bleakly at Richard. ‘You know how close I came.’
Richard nodded, sobering. ‘I know it. But it’s like Cassie says: it wasn’t really you.’
Ranjit glared at him, propping himself up once more on his elbows. Cassie put her arm round his shoulders to help him, but he shook her off with a shiver. Cassie’s heart ached at the gesture.
‘Excuses,’ Ranjit growled. ‘I couldn’t have done any of that if there hadn’t been something inside me that wanted to. Part of me must have wanted to kill you, Richard.’
Richard shrugged lightly. ‘Part of you probably still does. Why should you be any different to half the school?’
Ranjit choked a weak laugh, but there was a taint of despair in it. For the first time he allowed himself to gaze directly into Cassie’s eyes. ‘Curse or no curse, I’m a murderer.’
‘No, listen, Ranjit. You—’
‘You can’t put a gloss on it! I killed Yusuf and I killed Mikhail. And … and I killed— Oh, God, you must hate me.’ He put his hands over his face.
‘Ranjit, no—’
‘I can still hardly believe I did what I did in Istanbul, Cassie, but it happened. God … Isabella? She must hate me more than anyone …’
Cassie shook her head, trying to make him stop. ‘No! Ranjit! Listen, you don’t understand—’
‘I killed Jake. Cassie, I killed Jake.’ Tears began to pool in his eyes and he quickly swiped them away, his head in his hands.
‘Ranjit!’ Cassie exclaimed, and he looked up. ‘Listen to me! I know this is going to sound crazy … but Jake isn’t dead!’
There was silence, then suddenly, a voice behind them.
‘What?’ exclaimed Richard.
Cassie had almost forgotten he was there. ‘God, Richard. Yes, I’m sorry …’
She looked at him, staring open-mouthed and aghast, then returned her gaze pleadingly to Ranjit as he levered himself with huge effort to a sitting position. He swung his legs down and gripped the edge of the mattress to keep his swaying body straight. His eyes were feverishly brilliant, his skin even paler than before.
‘Jake.’ He began quietly, then cleared his throat and tried again. ‘Jake. Isn’t. Dead?’
‘No. Jake’s very much alive,’ she said urgently.
Richard rubbed his neck, blowing out a disbelieving breath. ‘Anything else you haven’t mentioned, C? Have you got my pet Labrador from when I was eight years old hidden under the bed?’
‘I’m really sorry. I couldn’t tell anyone, Richard, I wasn’t allowed.’ She swallowed hard and clutched Ranjit’s hand, squeezing it. ‘Darke saved him. With the Tears.’
Ranjit didn’t say anything for a long time, but she saw his jaw clenching, his brow furrowed. ‘Good. That’s really good,’ he said at last. ‘I’m so glad. It doesn’t change much. I still killed the others …’ His eyes filmed with tears again, but he gritted his teeth as he held them back.
‘Jesus, Ranjit.’ Cassie sat down beside him and took him in her arms. ‘Look at you. Look how much remorse you have. These were your friends, your classmates – no matter how you felt about them before the Curse, you’d never have done something like that unless it was out of your control. Don’t you see how that proves it? How often do we have to tell you? It wasn’t you.’
Ranjit lifted his palms and glared at them as if they were soaked in blood. ‘To hell with it,’ he whispered. ‘I can’t undo it. I don’t want to go in the damned Confine, so I guess I’ll just have to keep running. I can’t stay here. Where exactly is the Academy anyway?’
Cassie bit her lip. ‘Kenya.’
‘Jesus,’ Ranjit sighed. ‘I need to get out of here.’
‘Honestly, Singh,’ Richard pointed out scathingly, ‘Cassie here has just saved your arse, so don’t be an ingrate. Cool your jets for a moment, spend a little time.’
Ranjit got unsteadily to his feet, then, when he had his balance, raked his hands through his hair. He stared down at Cassie, who met his gaze, her heart pounding to feel him standing over her, tall and handsome despite his weakness. He seemed to have to actively tear himself away as he limped over to the French windows and pulled the thin curtain aside.
‘Listen, Ranjit, don’t worry,’ she said, going to stand by his side. ‘You’re safe here. Sir Alric knows what happened, everything. He knew about the Curse to start with; if this is anyone’s fault, it’s his. And he’ll sort things out, I swear he will. He’ll fix everything with the Council. There won’t be any question of the Confine or anything like that, I promise. Besides, nobody else knows you’re here – no one even knows this room exists besides Darke, Isabella, Jake.’
But instead of seeming relieved, Ranjit blanched, a light of hideous understanding dawning in his eyes. He reached out and grabbed Cassie’s arm. ‘Oh God.’ He rubbed his face with his free hand. ‘Where is he? Where’s Darke?’
‘He isn’t here,’ Cassie told him. ‘You’ve got time to recover, time to think before we make our next move. He’s gone to get his papers at the Mount Kenya lodge. We, uh, we need to figure out what to do next about …’ She couldn’t say their names.