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Lonan snorts.

“What?”

“I could say the same—didn’t think I’d have to chase you around the school.” He twirls his sword in his hand as he walks. “Always complicating everything, Fontaine.”

It’s a dungeon. The supposed warded safe place is a dungeon. Lonan led me through a passage behind a suit of armor, one of the many hidden halls and shortcuts that run through the school. It led deep underground, where the air feels like ice and I can see my breath. Then I saw the cells—huge iron gates and chains and stains on the floor so dark that I don’t want to think too hard on them.

My distraction did help Orla and Ollinde. They stand beside one of the cells, Ollinde back in a human form. And with them—Poppy and Hugo. A cry catches in my throat as I fling my arms around Poppy. She pulls me tight. She’s always given the best hugs, waiting for me to be the first to pull away. When I do, I examine her. She’s pale, but she looks otherwise unharmed. In fact, I’ve clearly received the worst beating of all of us, and that doesn’t even include the new scars from my Dark magic.

“Saints, what happened, Vesper?” Poppy asks. “You’re, well . . .”

“She’s indestructible,” Hugo says, slapping me on the back like I’m a sturdy cow. I try not to wince.

“We don’t know how well this room will keep a siphon at bay,” Lonan says, taking charge. “And I very much doubt it will do much to stave off the Ridding. So let’s be quick about this. We need a plan of action. We’ve been training for war for years. Consider this a headfirst induction into it.”

“Vesper learned some interesting information during her time in purgatory,” Ollinde says.

I tell them—about Galvin and his twisted plan to protect the Kingdom of Gault and about his plans for me. I do not look at Lonan when I tell them I am Galvin’s bloodmate. And I do not tell them at all about the bite on my lip.

“Bloodmate,” Hugo repeats, face twisted like he smells something terrible. “Like he fucking owns you?”

“That’s not what it means,” Lonan responds. I finally look at him. He rests his hand on the hilt of his sword, his expression stern and impassive. He doesn’t meet my eyes. “They’re bound. If anything, they belong to each other.”

My stomach forms a tight knot. “It doesn’t matter,” I say. “What’s important is that we find a way to kill Galvin. As his bloodmate, I can’t be the one to do it.”

“What will happen to you if we kill him?” Hugo asks.

I hadn’t thought of that. I glance at Lonan, and still he doesn’t meet my gaze. “Likely, his death will kill her,” he says. “Which is why we need to find a way to sever the bloodbond.”

“And how do we do that?” Poppy asks. Her comforting arm is still wrapped around me, her face sick with worry.

“That, I don’t know,” Lonan says.

A sober silence falls on our group.

“We need to find the headmaster,” I say. Van Asten will know what to do.

“Where is he? Where are all the teachers?” asks Hugo.

“That is the question. They all vanished quickly after Galvin killed the girl in the Founders Hall,” Lonan says.

“Yeah, can we circle back to you having a twin who is a prince?” says Hugo. “How have you been hiding that, Your Highness?”

“I’m no prince, believe me. And it’s a very boring, very sad story that can wait for another day. Suffice it to say that Galvin . . .” Lonan’s lips part mid-sentence. “Poppy?”

I twist to look at her. Her brows stitch together, confused. “What?”

But I see what Lonan sees. Her face is ghostly white, and . . . “Pop, your nose is bleeding.”

She gingerly lifts a hand to touch the trail of blood descending toward her lips. “Oh,” she says. “How strange.”

Her knees buckle. I barely catch her under the arms as she drops. Hugo lunges for her and helps me lower her to the floor. She’s unconscious.

“Poppy,” I plead. “Pop, wake up.”

Hugo sweeps her hair back from her face and shakes her. “What’s wrong with her?”

The others crowd around. “Look at her neck,” Orla says. “Just behind her ear.”