Page 61 of Bound to Three Fae Beasts

“Have you seen anything?” Gareth asked, his voice pitching a little lower.

“No. And quite frankly, I think you’re taking this too far. Shape-thieves are extinct, Gareth,” Jasper said. “They have been for centuries.”

Gareth growled lightly. “The courts might want to convince us they are, but I know differently. That prophecy isn’t just a folktale. The last shape-thief is alive, and they will be twenty years old, which means they are at this Academy.”

Jasper was quiet at that. From the way they spoke, it was clear they’d had this discussion before. I froze, the food turning to ash in my mouth. Gareth was here looking for me. No wonder he was throwing around money like he was. It was a way to endear himself to all levels of the first-years, to make them trust him.

How long before he started to ask for people to bring him information? Did he suspect me? Everyone thought I had a wolf form. It looked like Seb’s. How long before he put the pieces together?

Standing here in Savannah’s face suddenly felt very dangerous. I started to sneak away, but when Gareth spoke again, I stopped.

“You know shape-thieves still exist. I told you about the one that murdered my mother,” Gareth said softly. “They may have forbidden me from ever telling the truth, but it’s true. I am going to kill the last of them, and finally we will be forever freed from their danger.”

The air left my lungs. If being a shape-thief was hereditary, then my mother was also a shape-thief. So did my mother kill his? And if he saw it, how old would he have been?

“Gareth, I know that you were a kid who saw his mother get killed. I know that you’re convinced that it was a shape-thief. I’m still looking for those signs you told me to keep an eye out for. I just … even if the prophecy is real, why would a shape-thief come here?”

“To steal the forms of high-born fae, why else?”

“It would be suicide.”

Gareth growled. “With everyone certain the shape-thieves are extinct? Why would they consider it a risk at all?”

“Wouldn’t they instead hide out somewhere they couldn’t be found and try to continue their bloodline?” Jasper sighed, and there was a slight crunch of leaves, like he was shifting his weight from one foot to the next. “Anyway. That’s not why I brought it up. You need to get a better cover story for the teachers. If they know you’re hunting a shape-thief, they’ll expel you in an instant.”

Gareth growled again. “I know the risks.”

They fell silent again. I leaned against the tree. So that was why he’d asked Miss Wren about shape-thieves in that class, and why he’d studied the class so intently when he did. He was hoping to root them out.

Why would him looking for a shape-thief be grounds for expulsion, though? Wren had been very dismissive of his question, and it was difficult to find information about the shape-thieves beyond folktales. The high fae must be deliberately suppressing any rumors about them as a control method.

And what about this prophecy? That was something I hadn’t found much about at all. Before, I was worried about asking Penry about it, for fear of giving myself away. I could ask her now, citing Gareth’s quest … but how could I explain away how I’d gotten so close without being noticed?

“Have you heard any word from your family?” Gareth asked. “With your good showing at the last trials—”

“No amount of good showing will have them lift my exile,” Jasper interrupted. If Gareth sounded stressed before, it was Jasper’s turn now.

I turned slightly closer, once more invested in their conversation.

“Nobody in my family has ever been bound to a cursed form before, and now the eldest son has a dragon that spits venom rather than fire,” Jasper continued, bitterness lacing his voice. “If I was a wyvern, venom would be expected. But I’m a dragon. If the Vespa heir can be wrong, then what does it say about the rest of the house?”

Gareth clicked his tongue. “Is your father still accusing your mother of infidelity, then?”

Jasper snorted. “The current line is swapped at birth. If any of the other first-year students end up with a dragon beast, they will swoop in and claim them as the true child, provided they’re strong enough. But having not been raised in Vespa means they can’t be heir, of course. Otherwise, I suspect that they’ll announce I was swapped at birth and the true heir murdered.”

“Hey. Fuck them,” Gareth said comfortingly.

“No, thank you. They might have disowned me, but it would still be incest in my books.”

Gareth laughed. “That’s such a bad joke. Seriously.”

“Speaking of fu—hey!” Jasper suddenly yelled.

The next thing I knew, he’d grabbed my arm and yanked me from around the tree. He glowered at me. The food slid off my plate and I let out a surprised yelp—in my own voice.

“What are you doing?” Jasper snapped.

“Just enjoying the party,” I answered. Again, it was my own voice. At some point, I must have lost Savannah’s form. I was so caught up in listening to them that I hadn’t even noticed it fading away. Where I’d been, it was unlikely anyone had seen me, but it was sloppy.