Page 5

Today was the first real day of classes after Frostfire. The mid-winter break had been unexpectedly extended. We’d all been restricted to our respective house towers since the events of a few nights ago. Since I was in House Avari, that meant I hadn’t really had a chance to see, well, anyone but Kage. And we weren’t exactly on speaking terms at the moment.

I’d mostly stayed in my room, alone. But sometimes, when I came down to snatch a tray of food, I’d hear rumors swirling in the common room. Scattered bits and pieces of what had happened that night, most of them wildly off base.

I’d caught more than a few looks from Avari students. I knew everyone wanted to ask me what had really gone down that night … but no one dared. Maybe Kage had warned them off. Or maybe it was just the look on my face that told them it was better not to risk it.

Of course, I wasn’t the only one who had been through a lot.

Trying to tally up the losses from that night was still enough to leave me reeling.

Visha had lost her girlfriend Lace Ironstride, a sweet yet tough dwarven girl I’d just begun to get to know, but who I’d truly liked. She’d been one of Professor Stonefist’s star pupils, too. I wondered if Stonefist had been told Lace was dead.

Blake had lost Aenia, but not until after she’d brutally murdered Lace. The death of a child should have been horrible. We all should have been in mourning. And yet, what I mourned was the loss of Aenia the child. Because the Aenia who’d died had been a monster.

Back in the Dragon Court that night, Theo had briefly told me what had happened. How he’d been forced to stab his youngest cousin, while shielding Florence from Aenia’s blood lust.

Poor Theo. In some ways, he’d always been the most innocent of us all. Now he’d lost some of that, lost a piece of his own blooddamned heart. I wondered if he’d even been able to see his boyfriend, Vaughn, yet and talk to him about everything that had gone down.

Meanwhile, Lysander had lost his younger sister, Lunaya. Not to death—but to something even more malevolent. Did the House Orphos leader even know the full story yet? Had anyone bothered to tell him exactly what had happened? Had Blake or Kage?

Lunaya had been blood-bound to Marcus Drakharrow. From what I’d seen, she was basically in servitude to him and Catherine Mortis. She’d gotten onboard that terrifying, corrupt dragon and ridden off into the sunset—taking my mother’s soul along with her.

Right. As if things weren’t fucked-up enough already. Orcades had gone from being dead, to being in my head, to being in a fucking enchanted knife, to now being inside of a godsdamned dragon. Molindra, that was the dragon’s name.

I wasn’t crossing my fingers that my mother had survived the transition. Even if she’d managed to survive, our connection seemed to have been broken when Molindra flew away. I might never see her again. I wondered if there was any way to tell if Orcades was still alive. A spell, a ritual, a bit of light blood magic. Anything. Of course, there was one person who might have had an answer to that. But there was no chance in hell I was setting foot in his bloody office ever again.

Thinking of Professor Rodriguez raised the pace of my heart-beat immediately. I slammed the door of my wardrobe shut with a little more force than I’d meant to, tugged on the hip-length black sweater I’d pulled out, and headed for the door.

Today was going to be such a shit show.

Theo leaned over the breakfast table, making sure to keep his voice low. I’d lost track of how many times I’d glanced towards the refectory entrance. Breakfast was more than half-over. We’d be heading to class in a few minutes. Obviously, Visha wasn’t coming. And, apparently, neither was Blake.

I glanced back at Theo. Who was now standing up and making his way around the table to my side. He slid onto the bench beside me. I raised my eyebrows. “Changing seats?”

He shrugged. “I decided this was too important to risk sharing.” He leaned his head as close to mine as he could without us kissing, and I tried not to snicker. He’d been reserved so far this morning. But at least he was there. He was eating. He was talking. He wasn’t rocking back and forth sobbing or hiding in his room. Or, worse, furious with me. That was more than I’d hoped for, honestly. It was more than we’d gotten from Visha so far.

“What?” Theo questioned, seeing my smile.

I shook my head. “Nothing. It’s just … really good to see you, Theo.”

“Oh.” He looked taken aback. “It’s good to see you, too, Medra.” He glanced around one more time, then lowered his voice to less than a whisper. “So I’m not hallucinating again, right? Tanaka can turn into a fucking wolf?”

“Again?”

He ran his hands through his hair, looking sheepish. “I mean, yeah, it’s been known to happen. After imbibing … certain substances.”

I rolled my eyes. “Right. Of course it has. Well, you’re not hallucinating this time, Theo. It happened.”

“Did you know that? Before, I mean. That he could … you know, do that?”

I met his eyes. “I’d actually expected you to tell me it was no surprise.”

Theo’s eyes widened. “What? Me?”

“You’re a highblood,” I pointed out. “Aren’t you all supposed to have special tricks like this up your sleeves? Sanguimancy? Necromancy? A little extra fur?”

Theo snorted. “I mean, magic, yes. But usually just being, you know, a fucking vampire is good enough. We don’t need to turn into wolves, too.” His eyes suddenly lit up, and he rose from the bench.

“What’s going—” I started to say. Then I saw the reason for Theo’s excitement. Vaughn Sabino was striding between the tables. Clearly he’d already spotted Theo. A huge grin covered the tall dark-skinned young man’s face.