Page 46 of Bone Year

I don’t know how I feel anymore.

It was clear he wanted to kiss me last night. I was so close to letting it happen. Gods, a part of me wanted it so bad I could taste it. I could use the distraction, something good to hold onto when everything else feels crazy right now.

But that’s the problem. It would be a distraction, and Jace deserves more than that.

I love him. I’ve always loved him, and I’m attracted to him. I just don’t know if it’s the right kind of love. The kind that builds something or the kind that ruins everything.

I huff out a breath and shove the thoughts aside. Not tonight.

I grab the map off my desk and squint at the tiny labels, trying to figure out where I’m supposed to be going for the Mirror Ceremony. The location isn’t marked with a name, only a symbol, a circle made of bones beneath the headmaster’s tower.

That’s not ominous at all.

Good thing I threw my cloak over my clothes tonight, because I have to walk most of the way outside, and it’s a full-on snowy blizzard. I pull my hood up over my head and hold the cloak tight around me. The cold bites through anyway.

I’ve been to the headmaster’s tower before, but I find myself once again unsure if I’m going the right way. Everything looks different in the dark. The buildings blur together, all the same stone and frost-covered arches. I thought there would be more students around since all years are required to be there tonight, but the paths are empty. It’s me and the snow and the howling wind.

I quicken my pace and take a shortcut through a small alley between the blood year dormitories.

A prickle runs along my skin, like the feeling of being watched. I glance back.

Nothing. Just darkness and whirls of snow. I pull my hands from my cloak and breathe into them for warmth. I need to keep walking, I must be close.

Something drops down right in front of me.

I cry out and stumble back. A large figure. Giant black wings spread wide for a second before it all vanishes.

He steps toward me, and I hold my breath and take another step back. My spine hits the cold stone wall.

Then he pushes his hood back, and I see his face.

Draven.

So vampires have wings too. His were even larger than Jace’s, if that’s possible. And now they’re gone. They must be manifested with current.

I shake off the thought and stare daggers at him.

“What the fuck, Draven?”

“You should really watch where you walk at night.”

“And you should really stop stalking me.” I cross my arms despite the cold. “People will talk.”

“Let them.”

“What, you want them to think you’re obsessed with me?” My ribs ache from earlier, but I ignore it. “Because this is twice now you’ve gone out of your way to find me alone.”

His eyebrows furrow. “Don’t flatter yourself.”

“Hard not to when you keep showing up.” I push off the wall and take a step closer, tired of being the one backing away. “What is it about me that bothers you so much? That I’m human? That I’m still here? Or that you can’t figure me out?”

He watches me with those amber eyes. Snow catches in his dark hair and melts against his jaw.

“I think I make you nervous,” I say. “I think that’s why you want me gone.”

“You don’t make me anything.”

“Prove it. Leave me alone.”