Khalid was like a kid in a candy store when we went to get our books. It wasn’t like college in America where we had to spend three hundred dollars on just one text book and they’d buy it back for forty bucks at the end of the year. Here, we just went to this absolutelymassivelibrary and checked them out.
It was beautiful. There was floor to ceiling shelves of books with a scrolling ladder to get at the ones on top. It was like a fairy tale. It evensmelledperfect. You could smell the dusty books, but the librarian had her own espresso machine behind the counter and she was burning incense. I already knew I was going to be doing all my studying here. I was just as excited as Khalid was.
“Hey, are there any smutty books in here? Like, with were corgis?” Liam asked.
“Liam, this kind of library is—” Khalid started.
“For everyone,” the library finished. “The succubae and incubi have certain needs and it’s best to keep the dryads distracted. We have a wide array of fiction by supernaturalwriters and some of it is filthy. If you’re looking for shifters that don’t exist, that’s section E12.”
“Is any of this online?” Lucian asked.
“No. You have to come in and deal with my sunny persona.”
I didn’t know what to expect with the rec room. We didn’t start there first, but it was in the same building as our dorm. It seemed to have something for everyone. There were cozy couches everywhere if you just wanted to sit and talk, but there were also a lot of games.
I recognized the dart board and the PlayStation in the corner, but there were a ton of games I didn’t recognize. Before I could ask, the entire vibe of the rec room just plummeted. I didn’t like it. It was unnatural and set my teeth on edge. I was still trying to figure out what all these new feelings meant, but I knew this one.
Lola was here.
I’d never been the kind of person who didn’t like someone I didn’t know and I was trying not to be that person now. It wasn’t just how she made me feel. It looked like she was keeping court. Mazen was trotting after her like a puppy who would kill you if you looked at her funny. Radames was hovering in the background.
It wasn’t even Mazen and Radames that were annoying me. They were being protective. Isawhow badly Lola had been beaten, but something wasn’t sitting right with me. Kira had training. Professor Adamastus and Headmaster Mykene said she was one of the best fighters in this school.
The same person who killed Kira probably hurt Lola, but how did Lola escape and Kira didn’t? Lola was a reincarnation, but she said she didn’t know who and she was alsotiny.
I also heard her tell this story twice during the trials. She was telling it again to the group that surrounded her and it was different this time. It was more detailed, which might not mean anything since she was hurt the first time I heard it and things were pretty tense the second.
“Anyway, I knew I shouldn’t have agreed to be on their team. Ari and Ivar said they were together, but they didn’t want anyone to judge them, so they asked me to pretend I felt some kind of bond with them. I didn’t know anyone else, so I agreed. If I’d known they were also violent, I would have worked harder at finding another team.”
That was a lie. She told us the first time they asked her because she was an influencer who did hiking videos and they didn’t know anything about the outdoors. Ivar and Ari didn’t hide they were together, either. They also openly flirted with any pretty boy who showed them interest. Alexios just seemed to fit with them.
They weren’t ashamed, and they weren’t hiding. I actually thought they were adorable together.
“I don’t know why the headmaster is allowing them to go to class here. They are clearly violent and killed that girl,” a girl sniffed.
“No, they didn’t,” Saffron said. “They were sitting at the table right next to mine at the pub. Ivar’s big blond head was blocking my view of the stage when I was trying to watchthisone perform.”
“Then they did it before they got there,clearly,”Lola said. “Are you calling me a liar?”
I slipped my hand into Saffron’s and squeezed it. I needed her to drop it. Morgana saw and didn’t speak, either. BetweenSaffron and Morgana, they probably knew the most about the Morrigan. I remembered more. I felt it the moment she died, and that was when the scream happened. There was no delay. If Ivar, Ari, and Alexios were in the pub when I screamed, then they didn’t kill Kira.
I knew what inciting a crowd looked like. I watched Blue Matthews do it three times a week. Sometimes, it was just giving him money they didn’t have and others, it was voting for a politician he liked.
I didn’t know if Set was really evil like Khalid said, but I didn’t really feel like Mazen was. It felt like Mazencouldbe with the wrong influence. I didn’t like how he was looking at Saffron just for telling the truth.
Mazen was a killer like Liam was, but he had the same code. I was sure he’d consider going after whoever hurt Lola and Kira justified. Problem was, he was being deliberately pointed towards the wrong people.
So, I faked needing snacks to get everyone back to my dorm room. If Mazen snapped, then Liam was going to get violent, and I didn’t want to be in the middle of it. A lot of people didn’t want to see the truth that was right in front of them and I didn’t even know what that was right now to convince Mazen.
But first, there were three people I needed to find. I didn’t think Ivar had hurt anyoneyet, butthey’d told me enough about Thor that he’d go berserk in the heat of battle protecting what he loved. Ari couldn’t shift yet as far as I knew and Alexios was still dealing with migraines.
Ivar’s battle berserker would come out if someone came for Ari. Probably Alexios, too, because I could just tell they were connected. It was all connected, but I couldn’t see how.
If we were going to have a conversation about it, they needed to be a part of it, so I just dragged everyone around knocking on doors until I got the right one.
“Hey, red,” Ivar grinned.
There was none of the usual mirth behind his eyes. The giant looked tense and worried.
