A Slave to Broken Hearts (A Slave to Love Sequel)

Chapter 87: Illusions

*Important note at the end of the chapter, please read <3 enjoy the chapter*

Nadia woke Jaime, freezing her to the spot on her knees with a spell and throwing a truth spell over top. Loren stood near, watching her, and waiting for her to try something, gaze steady and surprisingly steely, a tenser line to his brow than usual. I couldn't even begin to imagine what he and Ace were thinking. They had spent months being close to Jaime and trusting her, commiserating over their shared suffering, and for the possibility of her to have done this, to have betrayed their trust and everything they'd built together, to do the very thing they'd all tried to stop from happening...

Maybe I was wrong, maybe it hadn't been her, maybe it was a weird mistake or fluke or something. She seemed like such a good person, too nervous to ever step out of line or even be impolite, much less be a complete mastermind hellbent on controlling our lives and hurting us all.

Her eyes blinked open sleepily, gaze unfocused as she took us in from where we were crowded around her. "What's going on?" Her body jerked, wincing when there was nowhere for her to go. "What happened? Why can't I move?"

"We'll get to that in a second," Ace said, tone light despite the coldness of his expression, the way he stood tall and stiff, hands clasped behind his back, like he was a soldier. This wasn't the Ace I knew at all; it was him when he was at work, dealing with things he hated, hiding his emotions because he had too and because it was the only way to try and protect himself and get through it in one piece. And this particular problem hit much closer to home than usual. "Have you been manipulating Kiana and Blade in order to keep them apart?"

"Yes." The word came immediately and with no restraint. She blinked hard, eyes widening, like her response had surprised her. "I mean, n--yes. Why am I--?" her gaze landed on Nadia and her face crumpled. "Oh no."

Ace took a deep, slow breath, eyes closing, chest expanding. He was usually so expressive, so lighthearted, but now there was nothing. As he exhaled, his face was wiped clean of anything resembling his usual demeanor. There was no anger, no hurt, no confusion. Just grim acceptance.

I hadn't been sure what I would feel when I found out the truth. Relief? Anger? Hatred? Betrayal? Victory? How anyone could violate me like this and not end up on the wrong end of my fury seemed an impossibility.

Yet...I hadn't expected to feel so disappointed. And confused. And hurt. Jaime had seemed so kind and I had been glad Ace finally had someone trustworthy at his side who cared about him and shared his values and wanted to help make his life a little bit easier and fix the broken system he'd inherited.

Where did everything go so wrong? Ace had trusted her to help him lead and fix their world, she had proven herself and passed every test, yet somehow she had been the exact kind of person he had been trying so damn hard to keep at a distance.

Awkwardness ensued.

I expected Blade to rage, let out all the fury he had that anyone had dared to hurt us, had wrecked our lives, but instead he was just as still on Ace's other side. Quiet. Calm. 

Too calm.

It was disorienting. If he wasn't pissed off and showing it now that we had the truth, like I'd already seen glimmers of it before when we were theorizing, then how the hell was I supposed to feel? Even Ace was barely reacting, not showing anything. I didn't know what else to do, so I followed their lead and shut my mouth.

"I'm so sorry," Jaime said, eyes filling with tears. "I just wanted to help. I swear."

Of course she did. She was being forced to tell the truth. She meant every word she said. And somehow that admittance disturbed me more than her confessing to having hurt us. If she was so sorry, why had she done it at all?

"Help do what?" Ace asked, levelling her with his gaze. 

"Help you. Make you feel better. You were so lonely..." she trailed off, gaze flitting my way. 

"Sorry to interrupt, but someone is coming," Nadia said, pointing at the door she, Blade, and Loren had entered through earlier. "Shall I block them out or allow them entrance?"

"It's probably Bryce," Ace said, expression hardening as what that meant sank in. 

Was Bryce in on it? Or did he know about it? He was human, but he was also Jaime's boyfriend. I didn't want to risk that he was involved and would somehow get away, which is why I wanted him here too, but now I wasn't sure. I caught Ace's eye for a second, wondering what he thought since he knew Bryce better, but he quickly turned away.

"Let him through," he said finally.

A tense moment passed before the door opened and, as expected, Bryce walked in. Blade gave him an unimpressed look over. What was a human to this mess? Nothing. They'd never even met before either so his presence was, at best, mildly confusing.