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My eyes widened. “I’m not an Avari.”

She laughed. “You can be whatever you want to be, Regan.”

“If my father heard you say that, his head would explode.” I chewed my lip, hesitating. Then, “Viktor has my little brother, Persis.” I told her all I knew. To my surprise she nodded her head when I finished.

“Kage and Lysander have been trying to get word on Persis. Didn’t they tell you all that already?”

I shook my head. “I … haven’t really spoken to them much.”

“I see.” Her voice was gentle. “Well, I’ll try to find more information. But the Black Keep is where Viktor seems to have kept most of his records. And now it’s under Elaria’s control.”

I nodded.

“Look, you know how to play them, Regan, so maybe you can find something out we weren’t able to. You know how to work Elaria. You know the highblood language. Their rules, their rituals.”

“Their prejudices and their ruthlessness,” I said quietly.

She nodded, then smiled sneakily. “But now you’re the worst possible thing you could be—a double agent. A highblood with empathy. There’s nothing that scares them more than a highblood with a heart.”

I looked down at the letter. “You want me to pretend—”

“I want Bloodwing to survive while we’re gone,” she corrected.

“Gone where?” My head jerked up.

“With the dwarves. We’re leaving soon, so I need your answer.” She told me then what she’d left out before.

When she was through, my hands clutched the arms of my chair tightly. I felt sick. “If Viktor gets more dragons …”

“That’s what we need to prevent, but we can’t leave the school unprotected. Now that Elaria’s forcing Rodriguez to step down, we need someone here we can trust.”

Before I could stop myself, the question tore out of me. “Will Kage and Lysander be leaving, too?” There was quiet. “Of course, they must be.”

“No.” Medra was shaking her head. “They’re both House Leaders, so they won’t leave Bloodwing. They want to protect the students under their care. And … I think they want to stay with you,” she said carefully. “To support you. They seem to consider your recovery their own personal cause.”

I felt heat spread up my neck and lifted a hand to the white scarf. “Oh.” Of course they wouldn’t want to leave the school. And of course everyone must think I’d need a lot of support as headmistress. I nodded.

“Does that mean you’ll do it?”

My expression turned wry. “I’m surprised you all think you can trust me. That you don’t think I’ll just become drunk with power.”

To my surprise, Medra laughed. A real laugh. I found myself laughing with her. “Oh, Regan.” She gasped, after a moment. “Don’t even joke about that. If you knew what Visha said before I—” She must have seen my face. “I’m sorry. She said you’d always been wonderful at lying and so the role would suit you perfectly.”

I made a face. “Sadly, she’s right about that.”

“Yes,” Medra agreed. “But now you’re going to use that skill for something good.”

I felt a strange ache in my chest. “Visha and I were friends once. Maybe one day I’ll win her over again.”

Medra smiled. “I’d like to see that. She’s one of the good ones. You know, in a lot of ways, you two have a lot in common.” She stood up.

“So when do I start?” I asked awkwardly, rising to my feet. “Should I pretend to throw Rodriguez out of his office tomorrow?”

She looked thoughtful. “That might not be a bad idea.”

I groaned. “All right.” I looked at her. “When exactly do you leave?”

“Tomorrow morning. The dwarves have made us form a squad.”