“Please do,” says Nocth, leaning back in his leather chair. Silence falls in the office, and he focuses his attention on my neck. “You’ve had that for a few days, haven’t you?”
Aliz shifts uncomfortably next to me and clears her throat. “It was an accident,” she says. “And it wasn’t Cassie’s fault. So, if anyone is going to be expelled—”
“No one needs to be expelled,” he says, smiling at her. “We simply have some rules that ought to be followed. Especially when it comes to Familiars.” My hands twist into fists, but I keep my words bottled down. I can’t say,I’m not a Familiar,not with this glaring mark on my skin.
“What are those rules?”
“Well…” He gets up. “Nowadays, when we talk about Familiars, we usually think of those who submit to their masters through written contracts. A vampire will promise that after five or ten years of service, the human will be converted.”
“But we didn’t do that,” she says, and he nods.
“Yes, I’m aware of that. In the past, it was different. Instead of a document, the contract would be signed with blood.”
“But how—” I feel my blood boiling, my throat tightening. “How can something be a contract when neither of us knew—” I look at Aliz, and she has the same expression as I do. “We didn’t choose this.”
“It’s difficult for this mark to appear by accident,” the dean says. “But let me guess: For whatever reason, Miss Astra gave you her blood.”
We both nod, and a grimace of disgust momentarily flashes across his chiselled features.
“And for some reason, this blood was gifted beneath the glow of a full moon,” he says. “Was it?”
I see it. The window, wide open, the silvery glow of the moon filling our bedroom. Aliz is thinking the same thing, her eyes wide with disbelief.
“I really didn’t know,” Aliz says, her voice tight, after the office falls silent.
“How do we get rid of it?” I ask. “Can we?”
“I’m sure you have noticed that it hasn’t fully come into effect,” he says. “You’re not bound to Miss Astra’s will just yet. But once the next full moon reaches the highest point in the sky, the contract will be sealed.”
Those words, said so casually, stun us both. The room is spinning, my hands sweating as I gawk at him.No.“How do I get rid of it?” I ask again, trying to focus on the bright side. I’m still free. At least until the next full moon. “There has to be a cure.”
“There might be,” he says.
“Why didn’t you start with that!” Aliz exclaims, shoulders slouching with relief.
“Because I don’t know where it is.”
We stare at him, and Nocth’s blue eyes meet mine.
“What do you mean?” I ask slowly.
“You’ve both heard ofThe Book of Blood and Roses,haven’t you?”
Yes.I hesitate to nod. “But isn’tThe Book of Blood and Rosesimpossible to find?” Aliz asks.
“Did you know, Aliz, that it was written by Ada Astra?” Aliz gawks at him and leans forward. “But the only copy that remains is hidden in her library.”
“I’ll go to Hungary, then,” Aliz says quickly.
“No,” Nocth says, shaking his head. “Her secret library here, in Tynahine. But no one, not even I, knows where it is.”
The secret library belongs to an Astra?
The nameAdais familiar. I think back to the tiny portrait in the gallery where the Red Ribbons held their meetings.Dreamwalker of Rome.
“Can’t you ask her where it is?” I ask.
“She has been dead for over two hundred years, Miss Smith,” Nocth says. “Demanding answers from the dead is no easy feat.”
