“Were you doing the same to Vanguard?” he asks. “Using him like you used me, as a means to an end? A prince sure is a powerful tool to have in your pocket.”

I feel sick. “It wasn’t like that. With either of you.”

I shouldn’t have said that. I should make him think it was all strategy. But despite what he now believes, Michael’s the one person I’ve never been good at lying to.

He lets out a humorless laugh. “Sure. You just happened to be in Florence the same time we were tipped off to a Sire in danger.” He throws up his hands. “I was so stupid! As if I would just coincidentally run into my perfect girl!” He turns and starts walking toward the station.

His perfect girl. I can’t tell, even now, if this is part of some act. I can’t tell if his hurt is real or just another manipulation. I can’t trust anything about the version of him I thought I knew.

Either way, I now need to pretend to be his ally. I walk after him, practically running to keep up with his long gait.

“Michael, I did all of this for my world, which is hurting and needs a better chance.” I blink as we enter the station, adjusting to the light. “I never meant to hurt you. I lied about why I first came to Genesis, but not about anything else. Our relationship—”

He cuts me off. “Ada, you can’t expect me to believe anything you say now that I know the way you operate.” He says it as if I sicken him.

I didn’t know that I had any heart left to break, but something inside me is cracking and leaking, slowly poisoning my insides.

“The way I operate?” I follow him into the elevator. “How could you think my actions are worse than what you’ve done? I’ve known you—this place, these people—for a few months, but this is your home. Bloche has been your mentor for years. You’re the only one he trusts with his council key. And that thing is a master key for the whole institute. I bet that’s what you just used to help them escape. Am I right?”

The elevator doors slide closed, trapping us together in the confined space.

“And how did Korach even know I have a council key?” Michael snaps accusingly. “A fact that he was fully aware of when he approached me to work together. How did he also know that I have files, in my private office, containing the location of provincial Sires?”

I feel a wave of shame.

Michael looms beside me, and his eyes flash as he continues. “I had wondered, and now I know that he only knew because you seduced me to spy on me.”