Nobody crossed the Directorate.
For Headmaster to stoop to a classroom visit meant this death had upset them. It meant this was a mystery.
And then an even more frightening question popped into my head: Why had he come to this class? Was he visiting all the classes? Why not just hold a general assembly?
The hairs on the back of my neck prickled. I didn’t want to be in their sights, not even in their line of vision, considering my bond with Carden.
Headmaster Fournier scanned the room with his shuttered gaze. “The question is, who among us would want to see Guidon Trinity dead?” He pinned that icy stare on me.
My nerves became nausea.
CHAPTER TWO
There was a burst of sound as people turned in their seats. All eyes landed on me.
I slid down in my chair, trying to hide. Because I knew who’d want Trinity dead. So did everyone else.
The list was easy:
Emma, who’d suffered much at the hands of the redheaded Guidon.
By extension, Yasuo, her boyfriend. Duh.
And Three?
Number Three was the ringer.
Number Three was the only one who would’ve been capable of seeing such a thing through.
Number Three was the only person who’d want Trinity dead and who also happened to come equipped with a new vampire buddy who operated just enough outside the official Eyja næturinnar ecosystem to do something like feed on an Initiate.
Number Three was me.
Headmaster Fournier asked who wanted Guidon Trinity dead, and the answer was: I did. I’d fantasized about the many ways in which I’d obliterate both her and Masha pretty much every day since day one.
Headmaster glided to the doorway. When he spoke again, it seemed his gaze was trained on everyone but me. “Keep your eyes open, Acari, Trainees. The student who discovers and reports the identity of the culprit will know great honor.”
The moment he left, Acari Loren turned to me. She was one of the many girls who’d dance a jig if I were to come to a gruesome ending. “You knew Trinity, didn’t you, Drew? Didn’t you hate Trinity?” Her tone was saccharine sweet.
When I’d left on my mission, I’d been public enemy number one in everyone’s sights. But that I returned with a new—and let’s be honest—super-stud vampire? I was now under a microscope.
If anyone discovered that Carden and I shared a bond and turned us in, it would garner them major brownie points. My sure and subsequent death would just be icing on the cake.
Yas whispered under his breath, “Bitch.” His bemused, marveling tone was like armor for me.
I consciously slowed my heartbeat enough to speak. “I seem to recall Trinity kicking your ass a time or two, Acari Loren. Easy enough with such a wide target.” The girl was built like a rock.
Yasuo chuckled. “Snap.”
I hated stooping to such ridiculously adolescent taunts, but sometimes you needed to speak the native tongue. I’d seen Loren in the locker room, noticed how she always stole a quick glance to make sure nobody was looking before she changed. I don’t know why she was self-conscious—she could probably bench-press the lot of us with a solid strength that I envied—but who was I to understand? Girls and their stupid hang-ups were beyond me.
“But it was you and your little friend who Trinity hated the most,” an Acari said from the back of the room. “How lucky for you that she’s out of the picture.”
Nobody tried to hide their open stares, aimed at me.
Another girl chimed in, “How convenient she shows up dead just after you showed up with your new vampire pal.”
Pal. So people had noticed me spending time with Carden. What else had they seen? Could they sense my obsession with him? Had they caught me casting longing stares whenever he was nearby?
I had to stop. This had to stop.
I had to figure out what this bond was so I could break it. In the meantime, I had to deal with the disrespect. I couldn’t let my fellow classmates sniff my vulnerability.
I steeled myself. Looking over my shoulder, I said, “I didn’t realize you were in a position to accuse any of the vampires. Impressive. You should definitely bring your concerns to Master McCloud’s attention.”
That shut people up. For now.
But it wasn’t good enough. I’d thought my focus was shot before, but now I really couldn’t pay attention to anything having to do with my class. Because who had killed Trinity?
Girls died all the time, but not like that. There was ceremony around it. God forbid the vampires missed an excuse for a tournament or a feast.
Guidon Trinity had been a bully bent on tormenting and sabotaging me. She and Masha had both been overly curious about anything to do with me.
Crap.
Masha.
I groaned to myself. Masha wouldn’t appreciate losing her friend to mysterious circumstances. She’d had it in for me before, but now she’d be laser focused, waiting for the chance to wrap that bullwhip of hers around my neck.
She’d be watching me even more closely than she and Trinity had before. Watching. Waiting. Wanting to catch me in the act. Catch me breaking the rules. To catch me in a compromising situation—like sharing a secret blood bond with a renegade vampire.
The other girls were right—Carden would’ve had every reason to want to remove Trinity from the picture. If she’d discovered our bond? The Directorate wouldn’t look too kindly on Carden secretly hitting on a first-year Acari. They killed for much less around here.
I had much to think about as I walked back to the dorm. Thankfully, Yas had to run off to some Trainee thing—more and more such mysterious events seemed to be claiming his attention this semester. But I was glad for the alone time.
It didn’t last long.
I felt Carden before I saw him. A vibrating power at my back. I felt those eyes consuming my body, boring into me. I imagined I even smelled him. Rich, heady, like earth and man.
I wanted to turn and fling myself into him. To know a second kiss.
But instead I balled my hands into fists and sped up my pace. I didn’t know why. It was stupid. There was no running from McCloud.
I didn’t understand our bond. For all I knew, he could read my every thought. He probably knew where I was going better than I did.
I felt his presence even more strongly now. My skin turned hot, awareness pounding through me. I had silly impulses—to wonder what I looked like from behind, to slow my stride and sway my hips to match the low pulse in my belly. I fought my urges.
He laughed, a low rumble behind me. “You can run, my pretty wee Acari.…”
I was being ridiculous. This was a chemical bond, pure and simple—like a drug addiction. I refused to act like a silly, lovesick girl.
I sucked in a breath through my teeth. “I know. I can run, but I can’t”—I stopped short to deliver the line. It’d been so sassy and careless in my head. But Carden was right behind me, and his body walked right up against mine, a hard, hot wall pressed at my back. “Hide?” I finished weakly. Lamely.
“Aye, and best you accept it, young one.” He traced a single finger along my shoulder blade.
I took a defiant step forward. “Just because you’ve got a few hundred years on me.” Determined not to cower, I planted my hands on my hips and turned to face him. “It’s not like you were so ancient when you became a vampire. You can’t have been much older than—what?—nineteen? Twenty, max?”
He looked amused. “As you say, little Acari.”
“I am not little.”
He was grinning now, and my words hung in the air, preposterous. Because next to Carden, I was little. I was tiny and delicate and frail.
It cast my mind back to when we first met. He hadn’t seemed so large, dying of thirst in a dark, dank cell, imprisoned by a bunch of evil vampire monks.
He’d been dying, and all I’d known was that I couldn’t fail on my mission. I had to help him survive. And so I’d fed him. My blood had pumped into his body, engorging muscles and flesh until he regenerated into this strapping hunk of a man before me.
Just the memory gave me a shiver.
I had to stop thinking of him as a man. He was a vampire.
“So?” I demanded.
He raised his brows, looking aggravatingly amused. “So, what?”
I scowled. “Don’t patronize me. So…how old were you?”
“You had the right of it the first time.”
I rolled my eyes. “Can’t you just answer the damned question like a normal person?”
He rubbed his thumb along my lower lip, stealing the breath from my lungs. “Careful, my wee dove. There are relics on this island who’d kill upon hearing such language.”
“Dove?”
“Oh, aye.” His laugh was easy, but the dark glint in his eyes made me shiver down deep. “And how I’d love to watch you fly.” He licked his lips.
My body buzzed, the yearning for him pure anguish. My blood demanded more of his. My lips burned to kiss him once more. I had to fight to control my breath. “What have you done to me?”
He ignored the question, answering a different one instead. “I was indeed nineteen when I was turned,” he said calmly.
I thought my head might explode—the guy was impossible. “What are you doing even talking to me? You’re Vampire; I’m Acari. We’re not supposed to—how do you say it?—fraternize.” I shook my head. Since when could I not remember a simple word?
I glared. “What did you do to me? What’s happening to me? I can’t think straight.” I lowered my voice to a hiss. “And who killed Guidon Trinity?”
“Questions, questions.” He pinched my chin, studying me. “What I did to you,” he mused. “It’s what you did to me.” His pinch grew firmer. “You fed me, girl. And now we’re stuck with each other.”
But then he let go, easy Carden once more. “You made the bed. And now we must sleep in it.” He winked.
I flushed from head to toe. “Fine. Whatever. What about Trinity? You didn’t kill her, did you?”