He paused, scanned the library, and crept closer. I wrinkled my nose at his strong aftershave. It smelled like he’d bathed in it.
“Every year, the Night Sons select a Fawn—theirprey, if you will,” he explained, then nodded in my direction. “It looks like Enzo chose you this year.”
A shiver ran through me, and I wrapped my arms around myself.
With a low voice and zero sarcasm, I asked, “What do they do to theseFawns?”
“They wear them down until they break. They manipulate, isolate, and torment them. Break them piece by piece until nothing is left.” He closed his eyes, his voice lowering as he reopened them. “Last year, Enzo chose my sister, Clarissa, as his Fawn.”
That fact hit me like ice water.
“I’m doing this because I wish someone had warned her.” He rubbed his palms over his eyes. “Consequences or not.”
“Clarissa?” I repeated slowly. “Daphne’s old roommate?”
He pulled back and nodded. “Enzo caused her death. But no one will do anything about it. Not Arisono. Not the administration. Not even the police.”
My thoughts flashed back to him cutting my hair and how no one had stood up for me. Yep, it checked out to none of them having spines.
Before I could ask another question, a book fell from a shelf. Ishot upright, shoving my chair back, ready for Enzo to arrive, knife in hand.
The guy jumped to his feet, looking in every direction. “Be careful, Blair.” His gaze held mine. “No one at Saint Vale is who they pretend to be.”
After my last class, I gave myself a small tour of the university.
Students passed me and again acted as if I didn’t exist, but I didn’t mind. I wanted the quiet and space to breathe and think.
I needed to process the fact that some random guy in a secret society had cut my hair in front of an entire classroom and chosen me ashis.
Saint Vale was old but meticulously cared for. The stone walls carried nearly a century of history, but there wasn’t a speck of dust anywhere. No cobwebs in the corners. The tall windows shone, smudge-free.
Whoever had built the university didn’t make education their main goal. It had been built to impress and lure in the wealthy. And apparently, the psychotic.
The first floor housed the library, administrative offices, and lecture halls. A gym and pool took up the rest of the space on the opposite side.
The second floor was quieter with dorms that extended from the staircase, branching into corridors like webs. The east wing’s dorms were all accessible, but when I wandered toward the west wing, I found tall, locked wrought-iron gates blocking the corridor. It was the same on the third floor.
That reminded me of what Daphne had said about some students having their own wings.
Every hall had a Latin name, like mine.
All dark, morbid phrases that promised gloom.
Sunshine didn’t exist in this place.
I was also learning that predators ran these halls, not the administrators.
So far, Daphne was the nicest person I’d met, which was a plus. I’d spend more time with her than anyone else here, given that we shared a room.
When I returned to my dorm, it was around eight. Almost curfew.
Daphne sat at the vanity again, curling her hair while music drifted through her phone speaker. I winced, shook my head, and took a calming breath.
She’d changed out of her uniform into a pink sweater and a short, black skirt.
“Hey, you,” she greeted cheerfully, gazing at me in the mirror. “How was your first day?”
I smiled, a thousand questions about the Night Sons trying to climb their way up my throat, but I swallowed them down.
