Page 19

“Thanks to fucking Viktor Drakharrow,” Evie spat. The gamine copper-skinned girl with gold rings in her ears and nose slouched in her silver Avari robes. Evie Marasigan was Kage’s Second. I knew that she’d stepped up to lead House Avari in Kage’s absence. Apparently, there’d been a bit of a spat between her and Lysander over where Kage’s recovery should take place. She’d wanted Kage brought to the Avari infirmary, but Lysander had stubbornly insisted it was too dangerous to move him.

“Viktor Drakharrow remains missing,” Rodriguez agreed. “And having initiated the attack on Veilmar—”

“Allegedly.”

Everyone looked over at the speaker, who was, of course, Professor Vane. I sighed and rubbed my temples.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Visha exclaimed. “I’m a highblood, too. I’m also in Drakharrow. But that doesn’t mean we all have to pretend Viktor Drakharrow wasn’t responsible for what happened to Veilmar.”

Vane looked annoyed, but he didn’t respond.

“If we’ve gotten that out of the way, then yes, I think we can hopefully all agree that Viktor Drakharrow is indeed one of our greatest threats,” Rodriguez said slowly.

Lysander laid his palms flat on the table. “Let’s not forget that Regan Pansera is also still missing.”

“Are we seriously supposed to care about Regan Pansera?” Evie’s expression was incredulous. “After all she’s done? I’m sure she’s with Viktor, and considering she’s his consort, I doubt she’s in any real danger.”

“That’s not the case.” There was a chill to Lysander’s voice. “Regan did not go with Viktor willingly, and she was severely injured when he took her.”

Evie frowned. “How would you know that?”

“I’ve spoken with Kage Tanaka about it,” he replied. “As you’ll recall, Regan was in his company when she left the school. He would like everyone to know that Headmistress Pansera—”

Evie snorted. “I think we can all agree that she’s the former headmistress at this point.”

Lysander nodded. “Very well. Kage Tanaka has expressed his desire for us to understand that Regan did not go with Viktor willingly. She was abducted.”

“By her own husband,” Evie pointed out, looking frustrated.

“That does not make the danger she is in any less real,” Rodriguez acknowledged. “I was never Miss Pansera’s biggest fan. But recently I saw changes in her. If she was in Kage’s company and he stood up to Viktor—”

“Regan stood up to Viktor herself,” Lysander interjected. “In fact, Kage claims she tried to kill Viktor and was badly injured in the attempt.”

The room filled with voices.

“Quiet, please, everyone,” Rodriguez shouted. When the room had calmed down, he went on. “All right, I think we’ve gotten rather off topic. I agree that we should try to find Viktor—and if Regan is with him, we should render her aid, of course. But we have a separate committee to deal with those matters. And in the meantime, there are other things on the agenda to discuss.”

Lysander got to his feet. “Fine. But before we resume the agenda, I’d like to make it perfectly clear to everyone here that retrieving Regan Pansera safely has just become one of House Orphos’s top priorities.” He looked down the long table at Evie. “It’s also House Avari’s.” Evie looked startled but nodded after a moment.

As Lysander returned to his seat, I could see Rodriguez trying to hide his surprise. “Very well. I’m sure we’ll all back you on that, Lysander. Perhaps we can discuss this more once we move into the Special Circumstances Committee portion of the meeting.”

Considering Rodriguez’s unnatural love of acronyms, I was surprised he hadn’t called it the “SCC.” But then, I supposed the thing he loved best after a good acronym was coming up with lengthy names for committees.

“Considering that House Orphos and House Avari provide more than two thirds of the funding for this institution, that is no more than I would expect,” Lysander said calmly. He met my eyes for the first time and I nodded.

Who would ever have thought I’d be interested in saving Regan Pansera and not in strangling her myself? But Rodriguez was right. I’d seen changes in Regan recently, too. I knew she’d come to Florence’s aid in helping Neville that night. I wasn’t sure how the woman who’d had the Crown of Bone put on my head in First Year had somehow become the woman who would rush to a fluffin’s aid. But ultimately, who was I to say who was worthy of redemption or not when I fully intended on saving and redeeming a man who had destroyed half a city?

Rodriguez had moved on to discussing the Community Service Club. My eyes wandered around the room as he talked. The space must have been decorated in Headmaster Kim’s time. It was full of dark, polished wood. Every surface gleamed faintly in the lamp-light, and all of the expensive furniture was hallmarked by a very specific kind of lurid highblood taste. The table and chairs were decorated with disturbing small carved figures of naked blightborn women, their limbs arched, spines curved, and mouths parted—in pain or in bliss, I couldn’t tell.

Rodriguez had turned to the new house alignments now. I wanted to listen, but a faint scraping sound tugged at my attention. I glanced to my right, past Visha, to where Theo Drakharrow sat. My eyes widened. Theo held a small metal file and was methodically chiseling off one of Kim’s horrid carvings. Tiny curls of wood fell to the floor from his chair as he worked to flatten out the lines of the vulgar decoration, his mouth curved down in a scowl. Tempted to laugh, I pressed my lips together. Then he looked up, and my sense of humor drained away. Theo’s eyes were bloodshot more than simple exhaustion could explain. Redrimmed and glassy, his expression was distant.

I made a mental note to talk to him later. Alone. That was when I also noticed where he wasn’t sitting.

Vaughn Sabino—recently appointed one of the school’s Blight-born Representatives and the head of the Community Service Club—sat across the table beside Evie. It was easy to see he was anxious. He stared at Rodriguez, his body rigid.

“The very idea of conscripting highblood students into such a club is utterly ridiculous,” Professor Vane was complaining. “It is beneath them.”

“Oh, you believe House Mortis should be exempt from doing good works, do you, Alastor?” Professor Magda Stonefist spat, her eyes flashing. “You’re lucky any of them were permitted to remain in this school at all.”