“Here.” She pulls out a makeup wipe and hands it to me. I sigh and wipe the remaining concealer from my neck, revealing the small moon. Elia stiffens when she sees it, her skin paling. “The Astra emblem,” she says, voice low, before adding, “is that aFamiliar’smark?”
“You know what it is?”
“Anyone older than the treaties can recognise one,” she says. “Never had a Blood Familiar myself, but I studied all sorts of blood contracts back in the day.” When exactly wasback in the day? Basedon what she just said, she must be older than the treaties. “In fact, if you visit my library, you’ll find some of the papers I wrote on them.”
“Yourlibrary?”
“The Palau Collection,” she says, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. She notices my confusion and elaborates. “A few centuries ago, my name was Elia Palau.” My eyes widen, and she uses my confusion to reach out, pressing her cool fingers against the swirling lines of the Familiar’s mark. Her touch doesn’t have the same effect as Aliz’s.
“You’re Palau?”
“I just said that, yes,” she says.
“ThePalau? The alchemist?”
“Oh.” She makes a face, pulling her hand away. “I only practised alchemy for two centuries. But enough about me, tell me about that mark. How long have you had it for?”
I’m still trying to wrap my head around Elia working for the Council. Finding out that she’s also the university’s old alchemist is just mind-boggling.How old is she?“Two weeks,” I say. “We’ve got until the next full moon to get rid of it. The night of your Halloween Ball.”
“And Aliz doesn’t want to seal the contract?” she asks, pulling out another wipe to remove her own makeup. Why a vampire as beautiful as Elia would feel the need to wear makeup is beyondme.
“Of course not,” I say, my chest tightening. “It was an accident.”
Elia stares at me in silence, her eyes wide. “You really believe that?” she asks.
“What do you mean?”
“I can tell you’re telling the truth,” she says, blinking. “Yougenuinelybelieve you got a whole Familiar’s mark—a blood contract that can only be performed during a full moon—byaccident?”
“Aliz didn’t do it on purpose,” I say. Even if Elia wants to convince me otherwise, I know she didn’t.
“How did you get it, then?” She kicks off her heels, crossing her legs. “She had to give you her blood, didn’t she?”
“Two Red Ribbons tried to kill me.”
“How thoughtful of them,” she says, scrunching her nose. “Jannet and Stella?”
I nod. I don’t like the way Elia is looking atme.
“So, in your mind, these two girls decided that the night of a full moon would be the best time to attack you?”
“If Aliz had really wanted to make me her Familiar, she would have sealed the contract already.”
“And then you would know for sure she’s doing it on purpose,” Elia says. “Maybe she doesn’t want you to know that.”
“Why are you accusing her of this?” I say, my voice hitching. “Isn’t she supposed to be your friend?”
“Of course she is,” Elia says, and her gaze darkens. “But I’m not naïve. Aliz is still an Astra. And the Astras will manipulate you without you even knowing that you’re under their spell—”
“She isn’t like that!” I shout, my heart racing. I don’t know why her words are getting to me, but I can’t seem to stop myself. “You didn’t see how she panicked after realising what this was. You haven’t spent hours with her looking for her sister’s library, you’ve got no—”
“Ada’s library?” Elia asks. “Sothat’swhat you were doing down there.”
“What?”
“There’s a rose down at the library’s entrance,” Elia says, and I drop the makeup wipe, mouth agape. “It shows me if anyone ever gets too close.” She fishes out a small pocket mirror, flicking it open. Inside, I see the reflection of the rose and the candle, and she lifts it up to her nose. “Iknewit was you I saw down there the other day. I could smell your blood without even opening the mirror.”
“How—”
