“Yes,” Ash says, and it comes out in a whisper.

I put my hands over my face. I don’t even know how to process what he’s telling me.

“November—” he says, and reaches toward me.

“Don’t you dare come near me,” I say, so angry that I’m practically shaking. “When you sent me down that hallway, you had no idea what was waiting for me. There could have been someone with a knife waiting to kill me! You know that, right?”

“Yes,” he says. He doesn’t even try to deny it.

I walk back and forth. I open my mouth once but close it again. All this time, the missing information, the things that didn’t add up—those things were Ash. And deep down, I knew it. I felt that I shouldn’t trust him from the start, and yet I let myself. “So you came to me and offered to partner up to find the murderer when you already knew who it was. Why? Because you were trying to get information out of me to report back to Conner and the Lions? You…betrayed me.”

“I didn’t know it was Charles. Dr. Conner didn’t tell me anything of the plan other than that I was to lure you out after curfew and send you down that hallway,” Ash says, and his voice is getting more pained.

“All those questions Conner asked me about you…He knew you were playing me.” My voice shakes and I press my lips together, trying to get myself under control.

I glance at Ash. He looks like he wants to reach out to me, which only makes me feel worse.

“And in that assembly, when Charles threw the knife at me? Did you take the hit to get me to trust you so that you could ask me about my father?” My voice cracks and I try desperately to shake away my emotion.

“No, no way,” he says, and his voice is so genuine that I want to believe him. But how can I? “I blocked that knife because I wanted to. And that information was for me. I was trying to figure out why Dr. Conner was going through so much trouble to kill you. Trying to set you up for Stefano was one thing. But between Charles and the stunt that Nyx pulled with the sword…Dr. Conner is clearly fixated on you, or the Lions are, or both.”

“So now what?” I ask, exasperated. “Am I supposed to believe that you aren’t working with Conner anymore?” There’s disgust in my voice. “What about this deal to put Layla in the dungeon to keep her out of harm’s way? Was that a deal you made with Conner, too?”

“No, it’s a deal I made with Blackwood,” Ash says flatly. “If I had to guess, you’re right that Blackwood’s trying to stop Dr. Conner. But think about it: She can’t just eliminate him from the school, not with the hold the Lions have over it. And if she killed him, it would set off a much bigger war. So I made a deal that I would protect you if she would protect my sister.”