Nefarious

C134 - A profoundly malicious lie

Just as Jace was about to enter the girl's room, he glanced over at me. "What the fuck are you doing?" I mouthed. He told me to go back to our room, and although I felt annoyed by his current behaviour, I decided I should still listen to him. After all, I'm not in the position to judge him.

Almost empty-minded, I let myself fall onto the couch sloppily. Is this what we've come to? I'm continually worrying for Alex, terrified I'll suddenly break beyond repairable. Jace, on the other hand, has kept steady as though nothing had happened. His voice sounded just as confident and demanding as usual, and there were really no traces of his feelings for Xavier to be found.

To my surprise, Jace wasn't gone for long. He returned with messy hair, but then again, I do remember it being messed up after fighting Xylan. His hoodie was swung over his shoulder, but he still had his black t-shirt on at least. Once he understood my gaze was fixed on him, the left part of his mouth tugged upwards, which resulted in a triumphant smirk as though he wanted me to be curious of him. "Curious are we?" he chuckled mockingly. "N-no, nope," I lied, clearing my throat. "Don't worry, Valerie. I'll tell you everything so you won't have to lie again."

Although I was, of course, deeply curious about what Jace had done, I didn't want him to know so. I shook my head once he said he would tell me, but once I moved closer, I suddenly felt like changing my answer. My eyes intensely focused on the upper part of his t-shirt where he now had a stain. I let my finger trace the stained area without thinking, and surprisingly enough, Jace did nothing to stop me. Automatically, I moved my gaze upwards, meeting his devilish eyes. "Seems like you misread me a lot, Valerie," he said, almost whispering. "I will admit my assumptions of your idea of fun was wrong, indeed, Jace. Normally, I would've run off panicking by the sight of a fresh blood stain on your t-shirt, but I guess I'm not as afraid of you anymore," I answered. He let a snicker escape his mouth, but he quickly went back to being somewhat serious. "I didn't kill her," he clarified. "Mm, good," I nodded, swallowing oddly.

Hours and hours passed without us doing anything productive. I hadn't seen Jace lay down in ages, but finally, he took the sofa to good use. His eyes were planted on the ceiling, and his voice was not heard for a good while. I let him have that moment to himself, but only for an hour or so. My worries about him going insane kicked in eventually, and thereby I interrupted his silence. "You okay?" I questioned. "Your voice is husky, sounds like it clicks from a dry mouth. The water here isn't poisonous, you know," he answered calmly. "With all the people out to kill me, I guess I can never be sure." He scoffed, but not mockingly, because even he knew what I said was all too true.

Only a couple of minutes after I'd answered Jace, I heard someone knocking on our door. When I opened, however, there was no one there. A frown appeared on my face as I eyed the empty corridor. Jace said nothing, but I knew it had captured his attention as well. "Just close it," he groaned. I waited a bit longer before letting go of the handle, feeling unbothered by the heavy door closing slowly.

The second I walked into the living room area, I saw Jace rolling his eyes. "Yeah, leave the door open for anyone to walk in," he said, exhaling afterwards. I was about to answer him, but he got up to leave, which interrupted my original thoughts of speaking. "Don't say you're going to walk off in a huff?" I asked as I raised an eyebrow. He stopped walking, but he didn't turn around. I didn't say a word though, I was all too caught up on the sound behind me. Not daring to turn around, I suddenly felt something pressure up against my leg. My eyes moved downwards almost immediately, spotting a black cat looking back up at me. I swallowed oddly, realizing it was Leo, Xavier's cat.

Jace remained still as he had no clue what had just walked in, but I decided to turn around. I almost gasped seeing him standing there right behind me with the smallest smile on his face. I stepped aside, letting him pass me with easy steps. Jace cocked his head slightly, but not enough to see anything behind him. Xavier rose his hand to Jace's shoulder, tracing his index finger to his jaw before turning Jace's head enough to expose himself. I saw Jace swallowing oddly, but he kept quiet. Xavier leaned closer, his breath surely reaching Jace's skin. His lips parted, and just then I heard his soft voice whisper something to Jace, something which I was unable to catch.

It wasn't hard to tell Xavier was in poor condition. His pink flushed lips were bruised, and there was an evident cut across his lower lip. Very clearly, his skin was tormented by many grazes, numerous bruises and a few wounds. The deep brown and somewhat innocent eyes of his clicked with Jace's rather quickly, and it almost looked as if he'd suddenly forgotten about his own injuries. Jace, on the other hand, seemed worried sick. Of course, we all knew who was behind all this, who'd lied to us with no regrets or hesitations, but none of us wanted to say his name aloud. Honestly, I wasn't comfortable with even thinking of Xylan Caizar right about now.