Page 38 of Revenant

“You really need to remember your keys. I’m not a doorman,” she snaps, striding over to her desk and grabbing her book bag. “And next time you fancy a bit of fun, go to his room.”

“That’s not—”

“I don’t need the details, but this isn’t some place where you rent rooms by the hour.” Then she’s gone, storming out of the room like my appearance personally offends her.

“Well, that’s my roommate, Reyna,” I state.

“She’s…lovely.”

“You don’t have to sugarcoat it, she’s a bitch. Which is precisely why I plan to spend as much time away from here as possible.” Pulling open my drawer, I shuffle through until I find the exact pair of purple silk pajama shorts and the matching cami my heart desires. Turning around, I see Elias taking note of what seems to be everything in my room. “Do you mind?”

“Not at all,” he replies, taking a seat on my bed like he’s decided to make himself at home. Blowing out an agitated huff, I roll my eyes and go behind my partition. Now that I have a minute—time to really think about what all transpired, the day fully starts to sink in.

“Go ahead,” Elias says, far enough away for me to ensure he’s still on the bed.

“What?”

“Ask whatever it is you’re thinking that has your heart beating so fast.”

“I’m not—”

“Unless the rate has something to do with the fact you’re fighting the urge to come back out here before covering yourself back up?”

“You wish.” I sound tougher than I feel, so I finish dressing before stepping back out, leaving Koen’s shirt behind. “You all knew I was a witch?” I pull my chair out from the desk, taking a seat a reasonable distance away from the vampire who is now kicking off his shoes to get comfortable.

I’m so exhausted I have half a mind to crawl onto the bed with him.

“It was pretty obvious from the moment any of us laid eyes on you,” he admits, which piques my interest even more.

“Oh, do vampires have an internal witch detector?” I chuckle because it’s ridiculous. But his stretching silence has me thinking it wasn’t completely out of the question. “You can’t be serious,” I deadpan.

“Not so much, no. But you are the spitting image of your ancestor. Someone we all knew…personally.” Vague enough to keep me guessing, but forward enough to consider the question answered.

I scoff, rolling my eyes, irritated that even now all my questions earn me curveballs.

“Is that an attitude I detect?”

“Oh, you got a radar for that too?” I quip. He quirks an eyebrow before moving as if he’s going to leave. “Look,” I relent. “I’d appreciate it if you could just…be honest with me. I’ve had enough of the vague non-answers. Straight forward would really be a breath of fresh air.” I wait a beat. Then another, before I’m convinced that there’s no use trying to appeal to a vampire’s good side.

From where I’m standing, they don’t have one. “Forget it,” I mumble, folding my arms across my chest, looking anywhere but at him.

“Veil,” he finally says. “Veil Calder. She was a student. A witch.”

My attention whips to him. “Calder? Like—”

“We assume she would be your aunt. With a lot of ‘greats’ before it.” He pushes himself back onto the bed, propping himself up on my pillows. “We were actually all witches at one point.”

“So then how did you all…” My thought trails off. Is it rude to ask a vampire how they died?

He laughs, shaking his head as though he can’t believe he has to spell it out. “Maybe we should wait for the others to dive into the logistics. There’s a lot to unpack—”

“Screw the others,” I interrupt, irritation grating on my last nerve. “They had their chance earlier. This is yours.” Elias sits there, studying me as if he can’t figure me out. Probably wondering why I’m not more terrified and casually having a conversation with someone who can end my life so quickly.

I’m wondering the same damn thing.

“If you’re going to understand any of this, you need to know that what my brother wanted, more than anything, was to matter. And what he and Veil had was self-serving, on both sides in the end.” I watch his hand drift up to the nape of his neck, fingers running through the short, icy blond strands. He sounds almost…somber, and I can’t help wondering how long it’s been since he’s had to say any of this aloud. “The two of us came to Veilcrest hoping to appease our father. The school was founded to educate witches, and though it was still prestigious, our coven was far from the top. The Calders, on the other hand, were as high as you could get. Aldric Calder founded Veilcrest.”

My eyes narrow, searching his face for something I’ve clearly missed. “Aldric Calder…was?”