Her tone insinuated something much bawdier than a deep talk.
“None of your business.”
She let out a little laugh. “You are my business, Cara. Knock on Ander’s door or go back to bed.”
She was guarding the door.
“Does Ander have you on guard duty? Or do you just like to lurk and torment me?”
She yawned dramatically, like a cat. “Go back to bed.”
“Or does Fieran?” I tilted my head, studying her. “The way he kicked you out of our barracks…it was very public.”
“He’s a very dramatic princeling.”
“He is. And a dreadfully purposeful one, as well.”
She let out a bubble of a laugh. “You think he’s so clever, don’t you? You’ve fallen under his spell.”
I wasn’t putting up with her bullshit. I started to move for the stairs, and she was on her feet so quickly I never saw her move.
“Careful, Cara,” she said with a toothy smile. “We both know just how disloyal you are…and just how hard I can kick your ass. I might be the only one who can see through you.”
I let out a hard, bitter laugh. Although she wasn’t wrong.
“You already burned your place in one clan,” I told her. “I doubt Ander told you to keep me prisoner.”
“My clan leader told me to keep you safe,” she said, examining her fingernails. “Mortals mustn’t wander.”
Myclan leader? “Ander or Fieran?”
My voice had come out too sharp, too telling of how much I cared about the answer. She wouldn’t respond.
“Go back to bed, mortal,” she told me, leaning back in her chair with her bare feet on the edge of the table. “I wouldn’t want you to run into someone out there who feels less fondly of you than I do.”
Ander appeared then, as if summoned. He braced one arm against the top of the door to the hall, his brows raised. “What’s going on?”
“Cara wanted to go for a midnight stroll. I told her it’s not safe for mortals,” Maura interjected before I could.
Ander studied me. “I’ll take you anywhere you want to go, Cara.”
“I couldn’t sleep, and I wanted to get a book from the archives.”
“Last three days alive, and you want to do schoolwork?” Maura asked skeptically.
“Cara will survive the claiming, I have no doubt.” Ander raked his hand through his hair. “Let’s go to the archives.”
I was about to ask him if he had Maura on guard duty.
But Tay yawned in the doorway. “What is everyone doing up?”
The three of us froze as if we had been caught.
“Serving Cara, as always. What else is my purpose in life since Fear developed an obsession with a star he found exceptionally shiny?” Maura rose from her chair and stretched, catlike and graceful. “I’m going to bed, since my nanny services aren’t needed.”
She bumped her shoulder into Tay’s as she passed. “Goodnight, handsome.”
Tay gave her a concerned look, though it wasn’tjustconcern. I felt a stab of betrayal, even though I hadn’t told him what she did to me.
