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I stared at her, trying to process the fact that she controlled an element, on top of that one that she shouldn't actually be able to control. And that she was alone with it. Just like with the baby...

“I wanted to ask you if everything's okay...” I began quickly, looking around again to make sure that only humans were passing by. But there – I must have ended up very far back in the east wing – really wasn't a soul in sight. “Because of the...”

I looked back at her, at the belly she was almost successfully hiding under her corset. For now.

Didn't that hurt? But would she do something like that to herself if it did?

“…baby?” she calmly finished my sentence, making me bite my inner lip. “I'm now part of a protection program so that no one can kill me or this child inside me.”

Wait a second.

“Why...”

“The prophecy, Emely. Even if your pack doesn't believe in it, the Ruisangors do, and I should be wary of everything and everyone.” Her voice grew firmer. “But don't waste your time on me. I have everything under control.”

It didn't sound like it. At that very moment, after all the resilience she had shown today, it sounded as if she was forcing herself to say those words.

“You may seem that way from the outside. And it suits you well...” I added with a cautious smile, remembering Pastel Hoodie Julie with her braids and subtle makeup, until the blush on her cheeks in her petrified face reminded the corners of my mouth who we were. “But you're pregnant, and you don't have to deal with it alone.”

For a moment, I thought I could see emotion in her eyes. Pain?

Julie looked out of the pillared window next to us into the snow-covered courtyard and exhaled. It was cold enough to see her warm breath, and I wondered if she wasn't freezing in her human body, since she was only wearing a blouse and corset.

Slowly, she turned her head back to me and lowered her voice. “Emely. You are the Alpha's daughter, and the Councils and Circle have been on high alert since the police chief's murder, which means we shouldn't be talking to each other.”

Then she turned away and hurried on.

She was right. We shouldn't be talking to each other. I shouldn't be thinking about Miles either... Damn it, I didn't even want to. But Julie? Somehow, I felt responsible for her.

Besides, it was too late. I had already spoken to her. I had already allowed her and the others to do forbidden things, and I had knowingly let them break the rules.

“Wait...”

I started walking faster and adjusted my backpack to catch up with her in time, but when I turned the corner, all I saw was a door closing.

She wouldn't be able to shake me off that easily.

Determined, I opened the massive oak door, which led me into an unlit room illuminated only by the cool winter daylight. And indeed, it was Julie who turned to me in surprise.

She stood in the middle of the room, which contained long dark wooden benches and tables, an old blackboard next to us, and, from a glance at the crooked, dark blue, velvet curtains in front of the huge Gothic windows, I could tell that classes had not been held here for a long time. Cobwebs stretched across the corners of the room, weaving around old candlesticks.

The courtyard also looked deserted and dilapidated. All entrances were blocked by rubble or overgrown with vine-like growths and ivy. The statue of the man holding a globe with all his might was weathered, bearing some ravens lined up on it.

“Emely, you shouldn't be here,” Julie whispered, a hint of panic in her voice.

I approached her and crossed my arms in front of my chest.

“Why not? I need to talk to you. No one can see us here.”

“You don't understand. The others are coming.”

She sounded more and more anxious with every word, and I understood less and less.

Who was supposed to enter this old room?

“Which others?”

“Please go now,” she pleaded, grabbing my wrist with her ice-cold hands to pull me toward the door.