“Angel?” Strong hands fold about my waist. “Close it!” Lyle commands, and Ashfang swings himself shut. The icy air cuts off, and so does the drawing, twisting power.
“It…It was like a tornado, pulling me in!” I say in awe and horror as Lyle tugs me into the stacks and away from the black door. I tear my eyes away from it and look into the grounding face of my lion, whose mouth is pressed into a harsh line.
“What happened?” Savage asks, jogging over to us. “The air felt strange all of a sudden.”
“Looks like Aurelia just discovered a new door,” Lyle says.
“C-Can you make yourself invisible again?” I ask the gargoyle. “I think I’d feel better if you were a wall again.” Ashfang bows, and the black stone melts into the brick, becoming nothing but a seamless wall.
Chapter 57
Aurelia
The next morning, Minnie meets me for breakfast in the dining hall. For the first time, I notice a strain in her eyes, her nimpin Gertie jittery on her shoulder. She just shakes her head. “We have things to talk about, but I just saw this.” She slides the morning newspaper under my nose.
MACE NAGA MAKES STRIDES WHERE NONE HAVE BEFORE
My stomach roils as I stare at the blow-up front-page photo of the man who’d raised me, waving at the crowd, a benevolent smile moulded to his face like plasticine.
“That was a press conference,” Minnie says quietly. “He’s giving a speech tonight at one of the blended universities in the city.”
“He’s recruiting,” Xander says darkly, leaning into me to read it.
“The generals will be there,” Minnie says pointedly. “The younger ones go around getting emails and handing out meet-up details.”
“Recruiting for what?” Stacey whispers.
Xander, Minnie and I remain quiet because it hurts to say it out loud. But I know I need to see this for myself. The warehouse last night…the house visits. I need more from Ghoul. He’s breadcrumbing information in my dreams, but giving me zero in waking life. I understand that hecan’tdo anything against his blood oath, soIneed to be the one doing something. Maybe I could weasel my way into one of these meetings and see exactly what they’re up to. There have been no consequences for our destruction of the Crocodylus property or my murder of the crime lord. The only thing that explains this is that my father is preoccupied with other things. Things I need to know about immediately.
I want to maintain the image that I’m perfectly fine. Xander is suspicious of me, and Savage has been particularly exuberant, so I make a great show of actually going to classes for once. No one actually expected me to attend them since I came back from Drakos Estate, but Lyle was right—having a sort of routine may balance my jitteriness while I wait for night to come. Minnie, Sabrina, and Stacey make an effort to come as well, and it makes Theresa’s eyes light up to see us all, Eugene and the nimpins included, waltz in and take our seats like we used to. Our first class in this room feels like so long ago.
Unfortunately for me, the topic of the day is ‘Building Trusting Relationships with Mates.’ I squint at the board as if I’m concentrating, but honestly, I don’t know what the fuck this means. How do you build trust when your mate has a blood oath to be your sworn enemy?
“Try to find some positives,” Theresa says, waving her whiteboard marker and glancing at me and Stacey. “There are always positives in our relationships with our mates, just sometimes you have to look a little harder.”
To my surprise, Savage raises his hand. “I support my regina in everything she does. Even if it’s not very smart.”
I gape at him. “Savage!”
He gapes back in surprise. “What did I say?”
Minnie snorts. “Lia is highly intelligent! Nothing she does is ‘not smart!’”
“Hear, hear,” Sabrina says in a low voice. “Take it back, Savage.”
“All I meant,” Savage says slowly, like he’s explaining something to a bunch of idiots, “is that I’ll do anything for her. Why is that bad?”
“Savage is trying to describe loyalty,” Xander says crisply.
Theresa looks like she’s about to quit teaching. “Well,thatI can write down on the board.”
“What about…” Stacey screws up her face. “If your mate has to be loyal to someone else other than you?”
“Mates come first,” Savage says dismissively. “Nothing else matters. Anyone who says otherwise should have their head eaten.” His eyes pointedly move in the direction of the school fence, where Katerina’s head still sits, even though some of the teachers wrote Lyle emails about it. We’re not taking it down anytime soon. The native birds are still working their way through her soft tissue.
I watch Stacey sink into her seat, and something like a searing iron strikes my insides. “Sometimes there are conflicts, right? That’s life. Thathappens.”
“These are difficult conversations that are important,” Theresa says calmly. “Open conversations between mates are the only way forward. Honesty without judgement.”
