Page 177 of Plug and Drain

Arken read to her.

She willed herself to fall asleep and tried to ignore the hurt pressing down on her chest.

Arken’s deep timbre was soothing, and he read well, with great interest and the right amount of emotion, like every word fascinated him. Maybe it did. He paused at the end of the chapter and passed her the sleeping draught. This time, their fingers brushed.

“Have you read this one before?” he asked. “Only you seem to smile or tense before I read the parts aloud.”

Susie swallowed the medicine. “Many times.”

“A favourite, then?”

“Yes.” She handed him the bottle. Their hands did not touch, but there was something in his smile...it was directed not at her, but at the book. “Have you read it before?”

Of course he hasn’t, he’s the headmaster—

“Oh yes. Although, not many times. But it’s certainly one of my favourite escapes.”

“Oh.” That was all she could think to say. ‘Oh’.

Arken resumed reading, and she was glad. It was something she could get used to, if…

Well, it was nice, anyway.

Her eyes drifted shut.

Chapter 42

Recovery

Susie

The next day, Sarah brought her a late breakfast and recounted the goings-on at the academy.

Susie had been able to sit up without assistance, and her schoolbooks were propped beside her. She had high hopes of finishing an essay for Professor Marmala before the painkillers wore off and her back began to spasm again. All her fingers and toes worked fine, and the healer had visited early that morning and confirmed that she should make a full recovery—provided that she stayed in bed and rested.

“Arken held another assembly today,” Sarah was saying, whispering even though Arken was absent.

“Been doing that a lot, hasn’t he?” Susie noted, spooning porridge into her mouth.

“Yes, but today’s assembly was different,” Sarah said, gnawing at a bread bun anxiously. “There were more security guards, all vampires of course. But there were made vampires too, from Wintermaw Keep. They wore the royal guard uniform, so they must be Henrikk’s.”

The porridge turned to ash in Susie’s mouth at the mention of Henrikk, and dread began to well up inside her.

Sarah continued, “You know how we normally stand for assembly? Well, when we arrived, Arken told us all to kneel. By ‘us’, I mean all the wolf shifters. The vampires got to sit in chairs, but the wolves had to kneel on the ground. Even our alphas. It was humiliating. Oh, and get this…” Sarah gave a bitter laugh as she reached inside her blazer. “We’re all supposed to wear collars from now on.” She held up a brown leather collar with steel buckles. “Haven’t put mine on yet, but…”

Susie’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Arken is…making us wear collars?”

“Yes. We’re only allowed to remove them in our rooms or in the bathrooms. And all the vampires have been given leashes that they have to carry at all times, in case we ever need to be restrained. Oh, and the staff have all been given paddles to discipline students who don’t follow instructions—wolf or vampire.” Sarah made a face. “Zott supplied everything. He looked pleased with himself, like his birthday had come early.”

“I’m sure he did,” Susie muttered, feeling sick. This was supposed to be a good year, a better year than the last. But life at the academy was getting worse by the day, and it felt like one setback was bleeding into the next, accelerating at a rate that she couldn’t stop.

The healer expected her recovery to take weeks, and in the meantime, the academy was falling apart. And she was in Arken’s bed, doing nothing. Susie didn’t flatter herself to think she could have done much to stop it, but she felt guilty and helpless just hearing about it from Sarah.

Susie was counting the days until she could leave Arken’s room and return to classes. It felt wrong to be here, watching him work from his desk, knowing he was at the heart of all that was wrong with the school.

Letting him read to her last night and pretend all was well when it clearly wasn’t.

It wasn’t entirely Arken’s fault. Henrikk was the rot…but Arken was standing too close, and he was breaking down along with him. They were all going to crumble together. Was there anything the Vampire King touched that did not inevitably decay?