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I tried to convince myself that it was because of Graham's death, but deep down I knew that if I hadn't danced with Miles, the situation would be less tense.

“Not that they'll think they've impressed us,” Hunter snorted with contempt and patted Nash on the shoulder, who seemed to be the only one – excluding Mica and his men – who hadn't yet recovered from the unpleasant Ruisangor surprise.

Hunter turned to Bayla and me. “Come on.”

I looked back at Miles, but he was busy with the girl.

If she was really like Bayla had described her, then the two of them were a perfect match. Two false snakes who enjoyed being the center of attention.

Camera Obscura

Angus MacRae

After the economics lecture, I was unexpectedly exhausted.

Although I had done a lot of work for university during the winter break, I had mostly been focusing on law, which was why my concentration had rapidly waned during this lecture.

Maybe it was also because half the room had been full of Ruisangors and I had kept catching myself looking for Miles, but he hadn't been there.

He was probably spending his time with that red-haired model...

I was cursing myself for letting a Ruisangor take up so much space in my head. It was strange, almost alienating and embarrassing, that this tugging in my stomach increased when I thought about what someone like Miles would do with a girl like that when they were alone.

He had the body of an athlete, looked like he came straight out of one of those fashion magazines, and the girls on campus literally lusted after his attention. It was a wonder that he hadn't had an official girlfriend yet or that rumors about his sex life hadn't made the rounds. He probably paid the girls or took their memories after.

At some point during the lecture, I had tried to focus on something else, like the professor, but it had been so boring that I had almost fallen asleep.

I had watched the Quatura. They had whispered about the Ruisangors, and something told me that it would go on like this all day, if not the entire week.

And then, in the middle of the lecture, Julie Blair had appeared at the top of the stairs, in the large double doorway, late, but that hadn't even bothered the professor.

At first, he and the others had stared at her, and only when she had apologized to him in that controlled, toneless voice had he regained his composure and nodded.

Everyone seemed to know her after the entrance she had made at the winter ball. She had been in the newspaper, in a sidebar full of rumors about the mayor's family.

But Julie, who was otherwise so shy, seemed to be able to handle it.

And she had kept it.

Something about her seemed to have changed. It wasn't just her straight, shoulder-length white hair and the white suit pants that totally violated the dress code, nor was it the white corset she wore over the white blouse, which was the only thing left of the uniform. It was the way she walked, head held high, shoulders straight, posture upright, and that steely gaze. It suited her immensely and seemed to visibly bother Vivienna because she had whispered to her girls with agitation, and I had overheard some rather unpleasant comments about Julie's pregnancy.

Julie had been the first to get up and leave the lecture, and now I was on my way to talk to her somehow without attracting the attention of the pack members or any of the Quatura.

I was lucky that Julie was walking toward the east wing and chose a rather secluded side corridor that not many students used before turning into another corridor that was completely deserted. Only a few startled black ravens darted through the large open side windows, whose window sills, overgrown with ivy, were partly covered with snow.

Some of the dark birds hopped through the snow, following Julie as if she had food with her.

“Julie,” I said when I was close enough to her, and she turned around abruptly.

“I knew you were behind me, but I didn't expect you to follow me this far.”

I came to a stop and raised my eyebrows.

How could she have heard me? I had been so quiet.

“The snow, Emely,” Julie began in a low voice, staring out the window as if she were looking into nothingness. “It's as if it's communicating with me, warning me about all kinds of things.”

What the...