Duality

part fifteen

Mila found herself at the pond the next night not in order to see Ashton, but to tell him off. She hadn't told Anna, only because she had no intentions of doing something Anna wouldn't.

The water in the pond lapped at the edges, providing gentle background noise to contrast her angry thoughts. She had a dozen things she wanted to say in hopes of hurting him, but if she knew anything about this manipulative game he'd started, it was that he was impervious.

When he appeared in the distance, he either didn't notice her anger, or he ignored it. The closer he got the more she could see: his lovely chest, broad shoulders, the strong jaw and sloped nose... she hated how much she appreciated the view, even now.

"Mila," he greeted. Even his voice sent thrills through her.

"I don't ever want to see you again." She didn't tell him what Anna had said, didn't give him a chance to come up with some excuse. They'd both told different stories, and she knew exactly who had lied.

His dark eyes, darker in the moonlight, looked to the hut. "Did she tell you to say that?"

"This is coming from me," Mila said, leaving the emotion out of her tone. She crossed her arms over her chest. "The game's over. You lose."

"What game?" he asked. He had the nerve to sound genuinely confused, like he hadn't tricked her a hundred different ways.

She wasn't going to waste time elaborating, or opening herself up to the pain of his fake interest in her. "I'm sure you can figure it out." Dropping her arms, Mila said, "Don't come back." She turned and stalked toward the hut.

"Mila, come on."

To her relief, only his voice followed her. He remained where he was, watching until she disappeared inside the hut. Even then she felt his gaze through the wooden door, imploring her to walk back outside.

The next time she went back to him, it would be to carry out Anna's plan.

Sliding down the wall until she could sit, Mila wondered why she felt so miserable after that. Shouldn't she feel some kind of closure, some relief that she'd gotten away unharmed? She looked to Anna, sleeping peacefully, and wished she could do the same.

The next morning, Anna found her in the pond. "Did you stay here all night?" Anna asked, drawing Mila from the half-sleep she'd settled into.

Her skin had pruned as though she had, but she told Anna, "No." She'd wandered out to see her horses and then ended up staying the whole night. Rubbing her fists into her eyelids, Mila asked, "So, what's the plan?"

"Walk with me," Anna offered.

They went to the clearing where they'd tried training with Ashton's powers. "I don't have them right now," Mila said, before they went any further.

Anna waved her words away, picking her way over a branch carefully. "We're just talking." She stopped, prompting Mila to pause as well. "I'm assuming while you talked you didn't learn the truth about killing him?"

Forgetting who she was with, Mila shook her head; after a week of being with someone who could see, she'd have to change his ways of answering. As an afterthought, she said, "No."

"So, we're going to have to come up with something intricate, foolproof." Anna's expression was more determined than Mila had ever seen it. "We need to lure him here." Mila didn't think that would be too difficult. "Then we need a way to hold him." That could prove problematic. "And finally, a way to get the information."

Impossible.

"Don't make that face at me," Anna said, though she couldn't know. "I just need you to cover the first two. I'll handle the last one."