CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Autumn

“Jo, find this book. Check it out under your own name. I want no association with it.”

I handed her the catalog number I had scribbled on a Post-it and she frowned at the title.

“Necromancy?”

“Chief ladies-in-waiting don’t ask questions. Especially ones I had to get special permission to appoint so quickly,” I snapped, and she bobbed into a curtsy and hurried away, glancing back constantly. While I waited for her to disappear from sight, I inhaled the stagnant air. It was air that had not been outside the library walls for centuries, and to it clung dust and musk, wafted from the floor to the catacomb ceiling by the silent toiling of hundreds of students, academics, and councilors. Behind us, in the palace entrance to the sprawling underground archives of Athenea, echoed the steady beep, beep, beep of the security gates opening and closing; in front lay shelves that ran for miles, slotted into the vast space where the dead used to lie.

“Where is he?” I murmured to Edmund, who nodded and set off at a swift pace into the main thoroughfare between the aisles.

In our wake the silence turned to mutters, as the heads of the students bobbed up and gawked. I did my best to stare straight ahead and not be intimidated. I have every right to be here.

Abruptly, we turned left and a row of very deep alcoves came into view. Recessed into one of them was an oak table, and sitting at it was Eaglen.

When he saw us coming, he closed the book he was reading, set it atop one of the many piles he had created, and smiled politely.

I dragged my chair across the stone floor until I sat right beside him.

“In fate’s name, why didn’t you warn us she wasn’t drinking the blood?” I hissed.

His smile didn’t falter. “It’s quite common for turned vampires not to take to our diet immediately.”

“She turned three weeks ago! She’s wasting away! She hates being a vampire, I can feel it. She feels guilty for betraying humankind.” Even as I said it, I could feel the slow dribble of emotion and memory passing from me to her. I had no proof, but I sometimes felt that I was her food. I was her sustenance.

“Short of restraining and force-feeding her, there’s very little we can do. This is what she has chosen.”

I scoffed. “She doesn’t have a choice. She’ll die if something isn’t done! I’ve seen someone die already; I won’t let the same happen to her. And I’ve seen her visions of the dead, they can help us. There’s a reason we’re connected. I can’t do this without her!” I was echoing the vamperic queen’s words before I even realized that was where I had sourced them from. “Do you want a war? Because that is what will happen if one of us dies.”

Eaglendidn’t react. He interlaced his fingers and placed the heels of his palm on the oak. He bowed his head in acknowledgment.

“Have you made any progress with this connection?” Edmund asked from opposite me, eyeing the two of us impassively.

Eaglen shook his head. “I doubt this library contains anything pertaining to it. I’ve never heard of anything like what you are describing. I have never come across visions as uncontrollable as yours, Lady He**ine. And I have never met a necromancer with such a diverse range of skills as those Violet possesses. Some things can’t be explained.”

Edmund grunted. “Useful.”

I slumped into the curved back of the chair. Beyond the seclusion of the alcove, curious lamp-lit faces retreated into the shadows as my eyes fell on them, all except one. She stared back with an expression I couldn’t place. It wasn’t hate, yet it belonged to the same spectrum. It was painful to look at, and my gaze left the unhappy blonde in favor of Edmund, who continued to watch her. She blushed, returned to her book, and fumbled with the pages beside her.

“Who is that?” Edmund asked in my and Eaglen’s minds. “I don’t know all of the vampires yet.”

“Charity Faunder,” Eaglen answered glumly. “The girl whose position in the young prince’s bed was usurped by Violet Lee.”

“The court slut? What is she doing in a library?” The words were whispered before I could hold my tongue.

The first I knew that Edmund had moved was the book slamming to the ground at my feet. I started, so did every reader in sight, and Charity Faunder blushed deep-red.

Edmund very slowly and deliberately reached down to retrieve the book after his sudden burst of movement, rising again to meet my eyes. “Apologies, my lady. I didn’t realize that enjoying sex and pursuing academic interests was an impossible combination. My mistake.” His eyes were red, actually red.

“I haven’t met a slut who has managed it yet,” I hissed back, equally as icily. I hated Edmund’s lectures.

“Right here,” he countered.

“You lose your temper too easily, Mortheno. She’s only young,” Eaglen interjected and Edmund’s gaze broke away.

“Too young.”

“Still here.” I rose abruptly and the two men followed suit. “If she doesn’t start drinking blood in the next twenty-four hours, have her restrained and fed. And I want answers on this connection within the week.”

With that I left, sweeping past Charity Faunder’s desk without ever looking at her again. Behind me, I could hear Edmund’s heavy footsteps, mutterings of “Too young, too young” following me out like an echo.