Page 74 of Collared by the Vampire Prince

That realisation gnaws at me all the way back to class.

What would Byron and Mary say if they’d seen?

It is true what they said about vampires. They get inside your head. Nathaniel has already found his way into mine, and I cannot afford to let him stay there. Vampires might not be able to control minds like in the myths, but this is not a battle I can win with teeth and temper.

If I want this collar off, I need leverage.

At the very least, I need a blade.

It’s early evening, and Susie offers to complete the tour. I nearly decline because my head is throbbing, my feet are aching, and all I want is to return to my room and sleep—but I can’t afford to pass up an opportunity to scout the Academy.

So I let her guide me through a blurred maze of upstairs corridors with dark wood and red wallpaper and staircases that unhelpfully twist back on themselves as though out of spite. Eerie portraits of vampire aristocrats sneer at us as we pass, their lifeless eyes drifting after us, unintelligible dark whispers following in our wake. Without looking back, I lift one hand over my shoulder and give them the finger.

“That leads to the North Tower,” Susie says, pointing through an archway at a stairwell leading up. “Students aren’t allowed up there without permission. You’ll go up there tomorrow for Zott’s Pet Obedience class.”

“Mm.” We continue along the third floor. “And this is Headmaster Arken’s office.” She stops before a white oak door carved with beautiful scrollwork.

I blink at the door tiredly. “Are his quarters in there too?”

The question is blunt, but Susie is too busy turning pink to notice.

“Yes,” she says, smoothing a hand down the front of her skirt. “Through his office.”

Interesting.

“And Professor Marmala’s office is through the corridor this way, if you ever need her,” she adds, already moving away.

I reluctantly follow, glancing back at the white oak door. I should ask about the balcony. Whether she ever sits out there. Better yet, whether she ever comes to the headmaster’s quarters when Arken is not inside.

But I’m too tired to think of how I might ask without showing my hand. Susie may be growing on me, but she still belongs to the headmaster—willingly or otherwise. The last thing I need is for my half-formed plan to reach him.

Instead, I find myself watching the soft sweep of her silvery tail as she walks a few paces ahead of me, the neat twitch of her pointed ears above her strawberry-blonde hair whenever some distant sound catches her attention.

“Why do you have them?” I ask.

Susie glances back. “What? My ears?”

“And your tail.”

Yes. Definitely too blunt. But Susie only shrugs. “I don’t know. I was born like this. Of course, some people think it’s wrong,” she adds matter-of-factly, opening a door and nodding inside. “Music room.”

I duck my head in for an obliging look around before stepping back.

She shuts the door and continues, “Or they simply think it’s odd.” Her voice drops. “Or that I’m ugly. Others—”

“I don’t think that,” I blurt.

Her eyelashes flutter in surprise.

Heat crawls up my neck. “I mean. I don’t think you’re ugly at all.”

A smile touches her mouth. “Thank you, Kira. Actually, I was also going to say, there are those who find my appearance fascinating. Even…beautiful.” The word is almost a whisper, and her guarded expression makes me wonder whose opinion she means. Headmaster Arken’s?

She looks away, her ears lowering flat. “My appearance has attracted unwanted attention before. From other students. And teachers.”

My stomach tightens.

I think of Arken. His composed face. His gold collar around her throat. Susie sleeping upstairs while her own bed lies buried beneath books because she no longer has any use for it.