“I have no idea where I’d wear this, but I need it.” I walk around the dress, admiring the beading on the tulle skirt. “It’s gorgeous.”
“You can wear it to the Angelus Mortis Gala,” Gertrude says.
“The what?”
“It’s a dance at the academy. It falls on the spring equinox every year, and only fifth years and above are able to attend. It’s a huge deal.”
“I’d love to go,” I say, sighing with pleasure at the idea. I never went to a single school dance as a human, and the only person who asked me to prom was a ghost who asked everyone to prom. I was the only one who answered. I told him no the first time. He asked me again the next day, as he did every day after that. He was stuck in a loop, showing up in the middle of my senior history class and asking me to prom.
I changed seats to the back of the room to avoid him.
“Some of the more prominent families in Grimsby sponsor the dance, and last year the General of the Reaper Army himself came to ask Professor Messor about the most promising students. It’s supposed to all be for fun, but we know better.” Gertrude gives Kaia a look.
She nods in agreement. “It’s an unofficial way to prove you’re worthy of a high placement in the army.”
Maybe that’s why having lunch with the reapers was such a big deal.
“Well, if I find someone to go with—and I’m allowed to go—I’m getting this.” I eyeball the dress once more before tearing myself away to get the comfortable, casual clothes I came in here for.
Not knowing how finances work here, I need Kaia to help me pay for my items. It turns out the little pieces of gold I was given amount to a very large sum of money, big enough that my friends are shocked to see me carrying it around.
I double-check that the little satchel of money is back safe and sound in my cloak pocket as I gather my many shopping bags. We have time to go to a few more shops, and Kaia gives me a brief tour of the town.
We’re on our way back to the platform when Kaia grabs my arm, pulling me to a stop. “Hang on…isn’t that Maxon?”
I turn to look in the direction she’s gazing, and my jaw drops. Maxon is walking out of a red Victorian house, glancing around furtively. A buxom woman in a tight corset and short skirt giggles as she sees him out, her curvy figure silhouetted by the light shining in the hallway behind her. Above the doorway, a sign reads: Madame Sabine’s Brothel.
“Oi!” Kaia yells before Maxon can rush down the street. He freezes, a deer-in-the-headlights expression on his face as we cross the street to confront him.
“What were you doing in there?” I ask, glancing between him and the whorehouse behind him. “Decided you needed a break from Celeste?”
“Don’t be stupid.” His face flushes. “I was looking for Blaze.”
Kaia raises her eyebrows. “Blaze didn’t come to town with us today. He’s doing a detention for Professor Adria because he’s skipped class twice last week.”
“Oh.” Maxon blinked, his expression blank. “Well that explains a lot.” He deliberately shakes back his cloak to glance at his watch. “We’d better hurry or we’re going to miss the train.”
He strides away, effectively ending the conversation, and Kaia, Gertrude, and I follow, though at a more subdued pace. “He’s definitely lying,” Gertrude says in a gleeful whisper. “He knew Blaze wasn’t going to be in town today—I overheard him complaining about it to Maxon yesterday!”
“So he is cheating on Celeste, then.” Kaia gave a disgusted snort. “It’s too bad we can’t catch diseases by having sex with each other like humans can, or I’d cross my fingers that Celeste catches something nasty from him.”
I laugh, but my mind is turning over possibilities. I didn’t have a lot of experience with men, but even I knew enough to find it odd that Maxon had seemed so tense when he’d left the brothel. I figured if he’d really been there for sex, he’d have looked relaxed, or at least satisfied, when he’d left. Could it be there was another purpose for his visit?
“What happened to Maxon’s dad?” I murmur as we draw closer to the platform, wanting to change the subject. “The way the reapers talked about him made it seem like he’d passed.”
Kaia nods. “He was killed by demons. There was some sort of horrific act of violence in the human realm where many humans were killed. That sort of mass violence already draws in demonic energy, and they were there for the taking once the humans lost their lives. The reapers…they were ambushed.”
“Oh my gosh. That’s awful.”
Kaia nods. “It is.”
My brows pinch together, and I start to feel sorry for him again. He might be an insufferable asshole when it comes to tutoring me, but knowing how hard it is to lose a parent…
When we arrive at the platform, the train is already waiting, and we waste no time boarding it. The ride home is silent, each of us lost in our own thoughts. The moment it stops, I grab my bags and run straight to the dorms, eager to tell Cass about my outing and what I’d learned.
But when I walk into my dorm room, Cass is pacing agitatedly between the beds. “Thank God you’re back,” she cries when she catches sight of me, and I nearly drop my bags when she throws her arms around me. I feel her for a split second, and then she passes right through me. “I was getting worried.”
“Why?” I furrow my brow as I set my bags down next to my bed. “I told you I was going to town today and that I’d be late.”
