“Why are you doing this? What do you want?”
His eyes trailed to my lips and downward.
“Women never resist me,” he purred.
I scoffed. “Is that what you told yourself when you tricked Skylar into letting you near her?”
He clicked his tongue and waved his index finger side to side.
“No,” he drawled. “In fact, I thought it was quite honorable of me to take her innocence before she vanished. I mean, if she is dead, then it would be a shame for her to die untouched.”
He reached out, his fingertips grazing my cheek before I smacked his hand away. He pursed his lips and touched his hand in mock pain.
“You’re despicable,” I snarled.
“And you are far too righteous,” he complained. “Meet me tonight—The Raven Room. Midnight. You can see what a real party is like.”
Incredulity twisted my scowl into something designed just for Malakai.
“You would not want those rumors to get more out of hand now, would you?”
Anger cut through my restraint at the barely veiled threat. I left in a rush, a stream of terrible thoughts invading my mind. Rage burned long after I got back to my dorm, his taunting words making it impossible to calm down. I waited for midnight, my resolve to deny him the control he sought fraying by the minute.
Chapter 15
Secret Trail
ANNA
He was fucking blackmailing me.
With lies.
I could tell Blake.
But I wouldn’t.
And he knew that.
I slammed my fist into the stone wall of my dorm room, dust crumbling beneath my hand and a terrible ache shooting through my forearm.
I nursed my fist, my eyes falling on the vial of amber liquid.
My anger ebbed, and I turned away from it.
He knew I’d go. And not because he’d threatened me. He knew how badly I wanted answers, but more than that, he seemed to know that even more than wanting answers, I wanted to avoid my past. He was using it to string me along like a popcorn garland.
I groaned.
The Raven Room wasn’t in the Catacombs—it was in a relatively well-traversed part of the castle. I could go and leave as I wished.
Right?
The Raven Roomwas nothing like the last time I’d met Malakai there.
I slipped past other guests, none of whom I’d ever seen before. They were dressed in elegant attire, holding their wine glasses as they whispered sultry words and laughed unabashedly. A brush at my hip made me turn—Malakai. I scowled and brushed his hand away, moving away from him.
“I knew you would come,” he said, flashing a perfect smile.
