The world plummeted out from beneath her as the commissioner spoke. She couldn’t stop falling, dropping through space as though the ground had never existed.

  Whole body tingling and numb, she pulled away from Marie, barely able to get her body to respond. She knew she shouldn’t have agreed to come to dinner with Marie. This wasn’t something she was allowed to do. She wasn’t someone who got introduced to parents, or got to have nice things. And apparently, she wasn’t even someone who could earn those nice things for herself. “Apartment?”

  “What bonus?” Marie asked, eyes darting between Luc and her father. Luc barely even noticed.

  “You arranged the apartment?” Luc demanded, nails biting into the side of the table. “You told me you had nothing to do with it. You promised me.”

  Her voice shook as the words came out, unable to keep it steady, and she hated herself for it. She should have seen this coming, but she’d convinced herself everything would be okay. That she could have everything she wanted, that she could build herself a better life. But she couldn’t, not on her own.

  “You’re paying her?” Marie demanded, pushing back from her seat. She whirled on Luc. “He’s paying you?”

  “As if you didn’t know!” Luc stood up, heart beating too fast. All the blood rushed to her head, leaving the ground spinning. She had to get out of here. She needed to get away from Marie—and go where? She couldn’t go back to that apartment, not with Marie paying for it. “You throw money at everything.”

  “You wanted a rival,” Commissioner Blanchet said, “I sweetened the pot for Miss Gadget to get you one.”

  More emotions that Luc had ever seen on Marie’s face flashed across it as she turned to stare at Luc. “He’s been paying you to be around me?”

  “Why else do you think I hung around with you?” Luc snapped as she leapt up, unable to take it any longer. Marie had lied to her. Lied and lied again, something Luc was too stupid to see coming, but she wasn’t going to stand here and take it anymore.

  “Because…” Marie stared at her, mouth open, eyes welling with tears. Another lie. She was controlling her expressions the way she always did, using her power to manipulate Luc, acting like she didn’t know that her father had been paying her. “You were only around me because he was paying you?”

  No, Luc wanted to say. It sat at the tip of her tongue, barely restrained. Maybe it was true at first, that she’d been around Marie because the commissioner had been paying her, but that hadn’t been true for a long time.

  “Yes,” she spat, forcing the word out. “But don’t worry. I’m done. I’m done with you. Done with all of you.”

  She threw her hands up and stormed out, aware she was burning it all to the ground. Her relationship with Marie, her future, her career. But none of it was real to begin with.

  Luc somehow made it to her car, eyes burning as she sat behind the wheel and turned it on. Tears threatened to spill over, only her heavy breathing keeping them in place. She couldn’t cry, wouldn’t cry over Marie.

  Marie ran out onto the porch after her, and Luc slammed her car into reverse, refusing to look at her. Nothing she had to say would matter. She had every chance to come clean, months to admit what she’d done, and she hadn’t. She didn’t care about Luc, and never had.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  As she pulled onto the main road, Luc realized she didn’t have anywhere to go. She couldn’t go back to the apartment; her stuff would probably be out on the street by morning. There was no way the commissioner would let her stay there now that everything had blown up with Marie. Not that she wanted to stay there, in an apartment she hadn’t earned.

  She couldn’t go back to her mom’s house either, if she was even still living there.

  There had to be somewhere else she could go.

  Luc swiped at her running nose as she pulled up to a red light, taking a sharp turn the moment it turned green. Maybe Tobias would turn her away, maybe it was a terrible idea, but she didn’t have anywhere else to go.

  He didn’t know, did he?

  The road turned to dirt, the car rattling apart as she drove down it, leading the way down to the Barnes’ farm. She parked out front, sniffing again as the tears once again threatened to fall.

  She sucked in a sharp breath and climbed out of the car, eyes set on the house. What was she doing here?

  She couldn’t ask him for help. She needed to go back to her apartment and pack up her things and find somewhere to go. Maybe just to her car, even though it was so cold outside still.

  The farmhouse’s front door popped open and Tobias stepped out, hurrying down the steps. He slowed as he neared the car, concern knitting together across his face as he approached her.

  “I saw you pull up. Are you okay?”

  Luc opened her mouth, only for a sob to escape, breaking free of its cage in her chest and pouring out. She snapped her mouth shut, pressing the back of her hand to her mouth to try and keep it in as she shook her head.

  He didn’t hesitate before opening up his arms, offering a hug Luc had to dive into. She tucked her face into his shoulder, squeezing her eyes shut as the first hot tears forced their way out.

  “It’s over,” she choked out, the words barely audible. “It’s all over.”

  Tobias’s arms tightened around her, head falling on top of her own. “I’m sorry, Luc.”

  ******

  Marie shivered on the porch as Luc drove away, racing down the driveway as if she couldn’t get away from her fast enough. The cold bit against her skin. Magic waited just under the surface, ready to be called on and take the cold away, take the pain away, the tears. She didn’t reach for it.

  Nice trotted out the front door, whining at her feet. She ignored him, staring after Luc’s beat up car until it turned out of sight.

  Is that it? she thought, the words aching inside her chest. Are we done?

  They couldn’t be done. They were girlfriends, they loved each other. Marie just needed a chance to explain. But Luc didn’t want anything to do with her, she’d never wanted anything to do with her.

  She whirled in place, staring back through the open door. From this angle, she couldn’t see her father, but she knew he was in there. Probably still sitting at the table, as if he hadn’t just blown up everything she and Luc had.

  If they ever had anything.

  She stormed back into the house, cold wind following her inside, whistling through the open door. “You’ve been paying her?” she shouted, unable to remember the last time she’d yelled at her father. Had she ever yelled at him before? “You’ve been paying her this whole time?”

  “You wanted a rival,” her father said, pushing himself up slowly from the table. Conflict showed on his face, but she ignored it. He didn’t get to feel bad about this. “You wanted her as your rival, and she didn’t want anything to do with you. So yes, I paid her. For your career, Marie. And look how much you’ve grown!”

  “I don’t care about that!” Marie exclaimed, bitter laughter pouring out alongside the words. “All you’ve ever wanted is for me to become a mage. I’ve never had friends. I’ve never had a girlfriend before. And the first time I do, you ruin it! How could you?”

  He stared at her, his eyes wide. “I did this for you.”

  “I don’t want this!” she shouted at him. “I just want to be normal.”

  Discord to yell at me (or discuss the chapter)!