“You can’t do this to me!” she screamed. Her voice echoed down the hall.
I heard other footsteps slow, and a couple of people gasped. The determined look on my face must’ve scared them off, because no one intervened.
“I am a duchess!” she shouted. “The king will have your head for this!”
Chatter met my ears, and I realized Oberi was leading me back through the hall that connected to the cafeteria. Hell, I didn’t wish to humiliate Ava like this, but leaving her to her own devices was out of the question. She’d end up with a broken neck after jumping off the roof, or drowning in the pool beneath the school. Humiliation was the least of our problems.
We passed by the cafeteria, and I heard the chatter die momentarily as people turned to watch us.
“You’re a traitor, Lord Henry!” Ava shrieked. “Put. Me. Down!”
The cafeteria chatter turned into laughter. Everyone knew Ava and I had a thing, and no one saw me as a threat to her. I moved as fast as I could, and Oberi led me down another hall. Voices filled the hall, and I bumped against a couple of people. Everyone must’ve been staring, because the area went silent as we plowed our way to the infirmary.
“This is injustice!” Ava shrieked.
A door slammed open, and several pairs of footsteps came rushing toward us.
“What in the name of the gods is going on?” a woman with a Slavic accent demanded. The accent gave her away as one of the fae sorceresses who worked in the infirmary. I guessed it was Lady Helga, the medical director at the Institute.
Ava kicked her legs, and I heard her heel connect with the woman’s face. The woman gasped.
“I-I… think something happened with her meds,” I stammered. “Bad reaction.”
“Minerva, get a sedative,” Lady Helga barked to one of the nurses.
My teeth ground together, and emotions whipped through me so quickly that I couldn’t make sense of them. I felt as if I’d betrayed myself by dragging Ava here against her will. At the same time, there was conflicting reassurance, which I thought was coming from Oberi. Shame, guilt, pride… everything all came through at once.
“Help me, you imbeciles!” Ava screamed at the crowd. She threw her elbow back into my head so hard that it threw off my sense of balance. I had to grab Oberi to stay upright. “Don’t you recognize a woman of noble blood when you see one? Consider this a crime against the crown. You will all answer to—”
Suddenly, Ava stopped flailing, and she fell limp over my shoulder.
“Get her into a wheelchair immediately,” Lady Helga said in a rush.
The wheels squeaked as someone rolled a wheelchair over to us. I felt out for the armrests, then set Ava in the chair. One of the nurses rolled her away, and Oberi followed quickly behind. Everything had happened so fast that I could hardly process it. I slumped against the wall.
“She’ll be okay,” Lady Helga assured me kindly. She was one of the more gentle staff members here at the Institute. “We’ll do everything we can to help. In the meantime, you mentioned she had a bad reaction to her medication. What can you tell us about that?”
I drew in a deep breath to bring me back into the moment. “Ava has bipolar disorder. She takes medicine every day to help regulate it. Yesterday she told me certain things could interact with them.”
“Yes, that’s true,” Lady Helga confirmed. “Has she eaten anything unusual lately, such as potions or magical plants?”
“Not that I know of,” I said thoughtfully. “I don’t think she had breakfast yet this morning, and we ate dinner last night in the dining hall. Before that, we stopped by Commissary.Ihad a Magical Mocha, but Ava ordered—”
I stopped dead in my tracks. FuckingNaya. She’d been working behind the counter yesterday, and must’ve overheard Ava mention to me that magical drinks interacted with her meds. Naya must’ve mixed her drink wrong onpurpose. My hands curled into fists.
“There might’ve been a mix up with her drink,” I told Lady Helga.
“If that’s the case, we’ll be able to get her back to normal soon,” she said kindly.
“Thanks.” I meant it, but the word came out sounding more like a growl than anything.
Lady Helga excused herself and turned to go back inside the infirmary. I didn’t have Oberi by my side to lead me back through the halls of the Institute, but I didn’t give one flying fuck. I stomped away, bumping into people as I went. I didn’t care— they’d get out of the way.
I made it to Commissary and marched straight up to the counter, knocking down a couple of chairs in my wake.
“What do you want?” Naya sneered once I got there.
I slammed my palms down on the counter so loud that the room quieted. Air magic swirled around me and rustled Naya’s long hair so much that it tickled the end of my nose. My voice dropped to a deadly tone. “If you everthinkof messing with Ava-Marie again, so help me, I’ll make the Darke Games feel like a fucking daydream. This is your only warning before I beat your ass so hard your fangs will rattle around inside your skull. Don’t hurt her again, or I’m coming for you.”
