I shrug. “Maybe I like trivia.”
“You seem like the type to be entertained by nonsense.” He pockets both hands, giving me a long look that makes me feel sticky all over. “How are you enjoying my campus, Ms. Noelle?”
“It’s just Elle, actually.”
“If you don’t mind, I’d prefer to use your legal name. At least until we’ve established a relationship.”
So this is the game we’re playing. “I don’t see that happening.”
Jean-Louis’s eyebrows hike up. “Pardon?”
Dean Bauer and the younger guy stare at me, and a beat of unease bears down on the four of us.
“What sort of relationship were you hoping for?” I ask, cocking my head to the side. “Most professional ones don’t require the use of a first name at all.”
Hatred bleeds through Jean-Louis’s pores. “You’re quite chatty. When I was a student, we didn’t speak so freely with our elders.”
“Well, I didn’t grow up in Fury Hill,” I reply. “Must be a difference in parentage.”
“Must be.” He sneers at me, then turns to the younger man, grabbing the guy’s bony shoulder. “Not everyone can have such strong, important genes, I suppose. Right, son?”
“Beckett,” the dean interrupts, running the backs of his fingers over his forehead, “maybe we should escort your father to the Apollodorus for hismeeting?”
Beckett. Where have I heard that name before?
The younger guy nods, casting a sideways look at me, before turning elsewhere. “Sure. Father?”
Jean-Louis hesitates, clearly still interested in me as he glances at the forest before settling on me once more. “Were you traveling alone, Ms. Noelle?”
“Yes, I was.”
He hums, nodding curtly, though I can’t tell if he believes me. “I’d advise against doing so in the future. You never know what sort of nefarious creatures are lying in wait near the lake. There’ve been instances where students came back mutilated…or not at all.”
I slide my gaze to Beckett, who shifts on his feet. Guilt riddles his face, but I’m not exactly sure why.
“The Primordial Forestisoff-limits,” Dean Bauer interjects, pulling at his tie. “I can only hope Ms. Anderson takes heed of the numerous warnings before venturing back out.”
“I’m sure you’ll discipline her properly,” Jean-Louis replies, turning away and pushing his son ahead of him.
Dean Bauer exhales loudly as they begin walking in the direction of the Lyceum. He looks at me like I’m a bug on thebottom of his shoe. “Antagonizing Jean-Louis is not a smart idea.”
“Why, because I’m an Anderson? Doesn’t seem like you cared too much about that curse when you let me enroll, now does it?”
“Perhaps a bit of an oversight on my part, but it isn’t as if…” He trails off, glancing in the direction the other two disappeared in. “Doesn’t matter. You’re here, and I’m not in the business of expulsion except in extreme cases. And even then…well. You met Beckett.”
“What does he have to do with anything?” I ask, voice tight.
The dean gives me a strange look. “Well, he nearly killed your brother on school property, but things happened and now he’s back.”
I blink, my throat closing in on itself as the realization of why his name sounded so familiar slams into me.
My parents hadn’t told me who’d been in the cave last semester or who had abducted the students. Just that it’d been a group of Curators, and most of them hadn’t left alive. One had been beaten so badly by Asher that they were surprised he made it at all.
That one—Beckett Dupont.
I must have been so distracted when I met Sutton that I never put their relation together, and I certainly didn’t think he’d be allowed back on campus. Not so soon, at least.
Which just furthers my assertion of the Duponts being Fury Hill royalty. They really can get away with murder.
