Alex didn’t smile back. “While you were playing croquet, they kept saying stuff about you.”

“Oh? What kind of stuff?” she said, calmly as she could manage, smile still forcibly in place.

“Stuff.” He shrugged. “I just don’t think we can trust them. If there’s a way to win without them, we should do that.”

“That’s fine. So, what did they say?”

Alex glanced at her quickly before looking ahead again. She recognized that motion: him deciding whether or not to tell her the truth. “Francis started it. I think you kind of scared him in the Wardrobe Room. I didn’t think he was serious at first, but then Stella started in, calling you ruthless and stuff, like you’d double-cross everyone if Jewel asked you to.”

Luna snorted. That’s it? Of course she would. She might not have liked that Stella saw her plan so clearly and warned the others, but it wasn’t a lie. With a little more time, she’d be able to come up with another way to trick Stella into letting her guard down. Easy peasy. She was about to say so, to tell him not to worry about stuff like that, but then he continued.

“And she kept looking at me when she said it. Like she was implying you would do that to me too.”

Shock and fury ripped through Luna so fast she couldn’t tell them apart. “Alex, I would never—”

“I know,” he said. “I know that.”

Luna sensed a but in there, a pause that smothered everything else she felt with overwhelming sadness. He knew it … but did he?

Bad things happened when Luna cared too much. She loved her dad, more than anyone else, and he died. She loved her mom and got abandoned. It was better if she stayed apart from everyone. Kept to herself. Stayed silent, in the background.

But sometimes, she couldn’t help it, like with Tasha and Jewel and Alex. Her feelings rebelled and said, No. They’re ours.

So, one night she prayed God was listening and made a deal.

My life for theirs. Let the bad things happen to me, anything you want. Just let me have them, please.

Luna always teased Alex, pretending that she cared way less than she actually did. That was them—their dynamic. It always made him smile and laugh and look at her in a way that nobody else did. How could he not know?

How could he ever doubt her, even for one second?

“Hey,” she said, softly touching his arm. He stopped walking and so did she. “I would never do that to you. I told you we’re partners, and I meant it.”

Alex wouldn’t look at her. “It’s just I know how much Jewel means to you and you really want the money for Tasha and—”