Page 61 of Wolf Trial

“Yes,” Lainsz agreed, but did nothing of the sort.

His hands tightened, dragging me closer until my chest was flush with his. Fire caught between us until my skin burned, itching with urgency from the bond. And that one touch told me how it would be with Lainsz. Rough. Urgent.

I was willing to make good on the silent promises in his eyes, even if I knew I would regret it tomorrow, but before I could reach between us for his cock, or do something really stupid like kiss him, shouts exploded from beyond the trees. From the fair set up around the academy.

Shouts—and then a scream.

I exhaled a rough breath, coming to my senses. More cries of alarm came. What if something had happened to Elix or Paige? Panic hit like a lightning strike, and I scrambled off Lainsz, keeping my knife in my hand as I sprinted back through the trees.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he yelled after me. “Sadie, get the fuck back here.”

Huh. First time he’d called me by my actual name.

“My friends are over there, and there’s a killer loose.”

His footsteps were heavy behind me, crushing leaves and bracken. “What the hell do you mean there’s a killer loose?”

“Go back to your pack, Lainsz. You couldn’t give two shits about the people in this academy, about me before, so don’t you dare sound worried now I put a knife to your throat and made you hard. You have no right to that emotion.”

“Killer,” he hissed as I reached the tree line, throwing my middle finger backwards so he could see it a second before I burst back onto the field and blended into the crowd. He wouldn’t follow me. I knew that much.

I was on the far side of the academy, so I hurried around the side of the old, gothic building in the direction of the screams. The tents, booths, and the fairground games came into view just in time for me to hear Lilis, girlfriend of the dead woman Soria Runel, yell, “Her ring! Why do you have her ring?”

It was her scream I’d heard from the forest.

I pushed through the crowd, the band on stage making a valiant effort to continue playing even as her screaming increased in volume. Who was she talking to?

“Lilis?” That was Reed’s voice, soft around the edges with sympathy. “Maybe it’s better if you go back inside. I’ll come with you. The professor doesn’t have anything to do with Soria’s death.”

I pushed close enough to see Lilis’s pale arm extended, accusing finger aimed at a man in black clothes so thick they were almost armour, the kind of clothes a soldier might wear. Or a police officer, I realised when he turned and I got a glimpse of his profile. A chill went down the back of my neck.

Beaufort. She was pointing at Beaufort.

“This is an old family ring,” he said bluntly, with none of Reed’s sympathy. “You’re mistaken. It’s normal to be confused; grief has jumbled your mind.”

“My mind is clear,” Lilis replied in a hiss. “In fact it’s clearer than ever. You killed her. You killed my girlfriend.”

The crowd split across the lawn as Read strode towards Lilis, but she launched herself at Beaufort before the tutor could reach her. Lilis grabbed for his hand, clearly meaning to rip the ring from his finger, but I blinked and her throat split, poured red liquid like a waterfall.

It made no sense for a long, hazy second. One moment, she was shouting, reaching for him, and then her hands were at her throat as blood poured, faster than I could process.

“Knife! He’s got a knife.”

The chill at the back of my neck expanded to my entire body as I glimpsed the sharp silver knife in Beaufort’s hand. A perfectly formed droplet of blood fell from its tip. A standard issue Lunova Academy knife, the kind I’d just had pressed to Lainsz’s neck only a minute ago. Beaufort had used it to split open Lilis’s throat, to murder her.

Shock hung over us, a collective stillness. And then screams and movement broke out, people running in all directions. I was jostled, but something glued my feet to the grass. Where were Elix and Paige?

“Everyone get back,” Reed ordered, her voice like a gunshot. “Everyone out of the way. Seniors, forward. Weapons raised. Magic armed.”

She drew what I thought was a metal stake until her wrist flicked, and it expanded into a staff. “Are you going to come quietly, Beaufort?”

In response he surged towards the fleeing crowd at his right. I was swept up in the powerful movement of the crowd as people fled, but I fought to keep my eyes on the professor. The murderer. How fucking ironic that the lead investigator was the man responsible. I bet he’d been having a laugh at us all when he was given that role.

I managed to dig in my feet, resisting the tide of motion just as Reed launched at him, her staff swinging through the air and creating a high-pitched whistle. A sense of warning gathered at the base of my spine, ashes of dread on the back of my tongue. Before Reed’s staff could make an impact, Beaufort reached into the crowd and grabbed a woman. His next victim.

A ragged gasp tore up my throat. For a moment all I saw was sleek red hair, pale skin, and a long black gown. Then I registered the differences—the softer features, the shorter, slimmer figure. A breath of relief punched out of me, guilt hot on its heels. Rogue wasn’t as much of a friend as Elix and Paige, but she’d helped me, healed my eyes, and been nothing but kind. As far as people went in Lunatic Academy, that made Rogue practically a saint. And Beaufort had her sister.

“Let her go this instant,” Reed demanded, swinging her staff in a wide arc. But Beaufort brought his hand to his mouth. Fangs bit into his palm in the same moment he threw his hand at the ground, blood spraying across the blades of slick grass.