Page 56 of Bone Year

Chapter Fourteen

“The dead leave more behind than bones. They leave questions that haunt the living.”

— Professor Renn, Mortal Limitations

The campus is quieter now. Most students have already made it back to their dormitories, eager to bond with their new eidolons and process what they witnessed tonight. I walk alone, Poppy tucked inside my cloak. She snuggles into my side, gripping my sweater with her small hands. I imagine she doesn’t get cold like I do given all her fur, but I keep her tucked inside anyway.

I’m almost to my building when I hear a muffled sound coming from a narrow alcove tucked between two pillars.

I squint into the night, the snow coming down in flurries and sticking to my eyelashes. I quiet my steps and move closer until I see two figures pressed against the wall, tangled together in the shadows.

I shake my head, holding back a giggle. From what Elizabeth and Ellavee insinuated, people hook up at Ashwell all the time. I guess there’s not a lot to do when you’re in the middle of nowhere, plus it’s a pleasure you can seek out when everything around you is so emotionally draining.

I start to walk back toward my dormitory’s front door when I hear a whimper and sounds of a struggle.

“Stop. Please, let me go.” I hear the sob underneath it. The fear.

Without another thought, I run toward the alcove and shove the larger figure from behind with everything I have. “Get away from her!”

The guy stumbles forward, caught off guard, and the girl slips free. I only catch a glimpse of her face, wide eyes and a streak of lavender in her dark hair. Then she’s gone, running into the darkness without looking back.

Not much of a thank-you.

I’m alone now as Malric turns around. His eyes glow red in the dark, bright and menacing. He looks at me the way a cat looks at a mouse it’s already caught.

I move to take a step back, turn, and run, but he grabs my arm and yanks me toward him.

“Well, well.” He rolls his shoulders, unhurried. “The little human playing hero.”

I stand up straighter, lifting my chin. “She said stop.” I bury the fear somewhere deep where he can’t hear it. “That means stop.”

“Does it?”

He steps closer. I step back until my spine hits cold stone.

Shit.

“You shouldn’t have done that, Red.” His wings unfurl behind him, dark gray and leathery like a bat’s. They curve around us, blocking the moonlight, caging me in shadow. “Unless you are ready to take her place.”

“Get off me.”

His hand comes up and tugs my hood down. Fingers run through my hair. They trail down my neck, and I want to scream, but it won’t do any good. No one would hear me with the storm howling around us.

“I’ve been curious about you,” he murmurs, pulling me tight against him. His breath is hot against my throat and reeks of liquor. “What human blood tastes like. If it’s as sweet as they say.”

His tongue drags across my neck.

Poppy shifts up my side, pokes her head out of the cloak, and sinks her teeth into Malric’s hand.

He wails and jerks back, shaking his arm. “What the fuck?”

I bring my knee up hard between his legs.

He doubles over with a grunt, and I shove past him, running. My boots pound against the snow-covered stone, and I don’t look back.

I reach my building, duck inside, and take the stairs two at a time. Once I hit my floor, I press my back against the wall to catch my breath.

My whole body is shaking.