by Cate Corvin
Locke gave me a sardonic glance.
“Yeah, yeah. I know.” My gums itched as the fangs beneath threatened to spring out. “He’s trying. We didn’t know anyone else like us, so… we don’t really know what to expect.” I automatically fell into the plural when I spoke of my twin, even though Blondie would probably just incinerate me where I stood if I even thought about placing my own bite on her. “It could be pretty bad for her.”
“Perhaps.” The vampire’s eyes flickered when Shane and Blondie finally broke apart.
Lu moved so that she was positioned equally between my brother and the vampire. “Okay. Now we’re going to have a civilized conversation about this.”
“Starting with how you got outside the walls,” Shane interrupted smoothly, and I turned my own expectant gaze on Blondie. I was as curious as he was, especially if she hadn’t removed the periapt yet.
Lu and Locke shared a long look, and finally he nodded, just a quick jerk of his head.
“There’s a passage in the basement that leads right outside the walls into Moira’s Forest,” Lu said. She crossed her arms too, so now we’re were all grouped in some sort of circular stand-off. Only Locke seemed perfectly relaxed, his arms at his sides. “Locke’s chains are at the entrance, presumably to keep students out.”
I burst out laughing, and everybody looked at me. “Sorry. Go ahead.”
It was tough to swallow back the rush of dark amusement and bitter regret. All this time, the answer was right under our feet. Izzy Bitter, Keldan Morrow, and countless others never would’ve died if we’d just befriended the vamp in the basement.
Talk about a shitty sense of hindsight being 20/20.
“You could’ve left at any time,” Shane said, his lips turned down in a frown. Seeing Shane’s serenity broken was as disconcerting as his thick, possessive growls. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
It was Lu’s turn to look down, biting her lip. I raised an eyebrow as the silence dragged out.
“Because I don’t want to leave.”
Shane and I glanced at each other and then focused our gazes on her, fully in agreement over Lu’s mental state. Had Locke Compelled her to stay here?
The vampire shifted at my side, like he knew what we were going to ask. “I did not use the Compulsion. I’ve asked her many times if she wishes to leave. She does not.”
“Why, Lu?” Shane sounded betrayed.
Now her gray eyes blazed with the fire I was falling for.
“Because something here is calling to me, Shane. I don’t know who or why, but I can’t… I can’t walk out on it. Hell, even if I could, the Wardens would be on me before I made it to the next town!” She took a deep breath, clenching her fists. The floral-and-smoke scent of her was more smoke than flowers now. “I can’t just walk out. I need to beat Gilt on her terms.”
“No one can use the tunnels,” I added. “Even if we spread the word, a mass exodus is just going to end up in a mass punishment.”
Lu’s eyes rested on me appreciatively. See? I wanted to say. I can be reasonable.
“True.” The tautness in her shoulders relaxed. “If we can get everyone out of here, great. But we’re not going to get that far on foot, and Locke says the waystone is sealed with blood magic.”
I shivered convulsively in spite of myself. Carrying poor Izzy’s corpse through the moonlit forest after finding her on the waystone easily belonged in one of the top ten worst nights of my life.
But it had been far worse for her.
“Yes,” Locke agreed, and Shane scowled at him.
“Okay. We’ll come back to that in a bit, but seriously, who are you? I thought you were…”
My twin trailed off on a dangerous thought, and the vampire stiffened minutely. “You thought I was what, exactly? I am a night-creature like yourself.”
“We’re nothing like you, vampire.” Shane’s lip curled. A pet. That’s what he’d always thought the chained vampire was, but then, we hadn’t stopped to talk when we’d come across him three years ago. We’d assumed he’d been our beloved headmistress’s creature, rather than a man with his own mind.
Of course Lu would be the one who uncovered that. The girl had it bad for monsters.
“He’s the last of the Lockheart coven.” She raised her chin, as though expecting everyone to shout her down.
The vampire shifted to his other foot with a movement that looked a little unnatural, like he was trying to seem less still and predatory. “That… makes sense. The only name I remembered for myself was Locke. As far as I can recall, I have always been here.”
“He’s easily over two hundred years old,” I added. “He doesn’t remember Waverly.”
The weight of Lu’s gaze on me was almost painful, but at least she didn’t look at me like she wanted to flay me alive anymore, even if I’d deserved it.
“Before this was Cimmerian, it was the Lockheart covenstead.” Lu gestured at the distant wall. “A coven of magic-binders. At some point it passed into Giltglass hands and was renamed.”
“Where did you find all this?” Shane asked. He was still glaring at Locke like the vampire had committed a personal offense against him.
Lu shrugged. In the moonlight, her blonde hair was more silver than gold. “I actually found the bit about the covenstead in our Conjure and Exorcism textbook. The name Lockheart was mentioned in the book Gilt stole.”
So, there was merit to paying attention in class. “Nice, Lu.”
Her gray eyes flashed towards me. Was that a pleased tilt to her lips, or was I imagining something where there was nothing?
“So the vampire’s an original fixture.” Shane wasn’t going to warm to him just because he’d once been a warlock. “What else?”
Lu shrugged. “That’s all I’ve got for now,” she said, but there was something pensive in her expression. Her face was too candid to come up with a convincing lie.
“I’m sure you’ll do something reckless to figure out the rest,” Shane muttered.
But I’d found my opening. Help Blondie piece together the history of the school, win my way back into her good graces.
Fuckin’ foolproof.
“I have combat training early, so I should probably get to bed.” She yawned, covering her mouth with one delicate hand. All three of us instinctively moved towards her then stopped, looking at each other.
Lu sighed. “Seriously, you three. Do you want to take the tunnel?”
Damn right I did. If there was a secret Cimmerian was hiding from me, I wanted to be all over it.
We followed Locke and Lu to a rickety wooden door that almost perfectly blended into its surroundings, wreathed with overgrown ivy and crumbling cobblestones.
The tunnel within smelled dusty, but there was a tang to it even my human nose didn’t like. “I’m going through in my other skin.”
I shifted into the wolf before Lu said anything, but she watched as fur exploded from my skin and my bones warped.
The change in scent was almost an assault on my senses, the dark copper tinge of death, fetid rot, and decay clawing at my nose.
I sneezed and whined, my tail drooping, and Shane shifted as well. His ears pressed flat against his skull immediately. We surrounded Lu as she plunged into the tunnel that smelled like a tomb, following on the vampire’s heels.
It was impossible to keep my distance from her when the threat smelled so pervasive. A nonstop rumble rolled from my chest like thunder and I butted up against her, taking a gulp of air that smelled like smoke and jasmine to wash away the scent of rot.
Surprise and then glee flared through me when her fingers burrowed into the fur at my neck, sending waves of liquid warmth through my body. In the wolfskin, everything was much simpler.
Protect the girl. She touched me, loved me, needed me. I was her shield, her teeth and claws, herding her back to safety at my side.
She doesn’t love you, my human mind whispered.
It was difficult to let the man I was back into my own he
ad to take over. I didn’t want to think about how much I’d fucked up, or what I was running from, or the danger around us. I wanted the simplicity of being both devoted and wanted.
I didn’t want to think about what I would do if I couldn’t prove myself to her.
The scent of death eventually dissipated when the smell of the vampire’s lair and Cimmerian’s sour basement grew stronger, and Lu’s hand slipped from my neck, to my dismay. I didn’t realize how good it felt to just be touched by someone until it was gone.
Shane and I slipped ahead while she said goodbye to her vampire, her kiss much more chaste this time. If the vampire had been hungry, he hid it well now, but from the way my twin glared at him and rumbled, Shane still didn’t entirely trust him.
We padded silently through the halls, surrounding Lu like an honor guard, until we hit the C Wing hallway and Shane shifted back into his human body.
“I’ll catch up later, Roman,” he said, his eyes only for Lu.
My heart contracted in my ribcage, like a fist had punched right through my bones and taken the pulsing organ in its fist.
Lu glanced at me. I smelled both her desire and frustration with my heightened senses, and saw the exact moment she shuttered whatever feelings she might have had for me. She clenched her fists and turned away into Shane’s arms.
I stalked through Cimmerian and broke into a run as soon as I hit the doors. Gravel sprayed under my paws as I raced for the dark, confining comfort of the forest.
I needed to leave behind the smell of sex, deceit, death, and betrayal for something clean and pure. I couldn’t stand another second of smelling Lu everywhere and seeing the way she looked at me, like she was waiting for me to bite.
No matter what I did, I was still the one who’d broken her trust first, who’d let her make herself vulnerable to me, and I’d slid a dagger right through a crack in her armor.
I didn’t care about my twin’s visions anymore. Fate could go fuck itself. I was going to fight, because I was the one choosing.
And I needed her to choose me back.
Chapter 12
Lu
“What happened to your progress? You’re preoccupied, Miss Darke.” Dominic easily disarmed me and tossed my sword aside.
Another morning, he might’ve tackled me to the ground in a way that would’ve turned my bones to magma, but we had another unwanted audience.
Roman laid in the grass, his head resting on his massive paws, ice blue eyes focused on me.
Oddly enough, that wasn’t why I was inattentive. Both Frosts had accepted Locke’s provenance without so much as batting an eye. I had proof that Cimmerian had once been the Lockheart covenstead.
Now I needed ironclad proof that Locke was the sole surviving member of that coven. If it was true, then he, and any witch he was bonded to, had a greater claim to the mansion and its cornerstone.
The answer to wrestling Cimmerian from Gilt’s grasp was hidden somewhere in those walls.
To prove his point, Dominic hooked his shin around my ankle and sent me tumbling to the ground. I went without so much a squeak.
“Lucrezia. Really.”
I sighed and dragged myself up from the dewy grass. “Dominic… how much do you know about Cimmerian’s past?”
His hazel eyes flickered. I loved every plane and facet of his sensuous face, and was slowly learning how to read his veiled expressions.
“Likely about as much as you do, Miss Darke.”
A lie. I ignored the pang of hurt and collected my sword. “It once belonged to a coven called Lockheart. Have you ever heard of them?”
“Naturally, Miss Darke. I teach from the book you got your information from.” His accented voice was dry as he raised his daggers again. My mouth went dry as I took in his densely-muscled body under the training clothes. “The Lockes are long dead. This is entirely a Giltglass covenstead now.”
Oh, if only he knew. But I wasn’t giving up all my information without a little something in return.
“I’d bet I know something you don’t,” I said, absorbing the blow of his daggers and circling him in the trampled grass.
Dominic gave me a tight half-smile as he looked for an opening in my guard. “I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me.”
“No.” The word became a gasp as I moved into a stop thrust that he easily parried. “Not for free.”
“What do you want in exchange, Miss Darke?” He shouldered the blunt practice sword aside, pushing under my guard.
I moved back before he could touch a dagger to my skin and pointed my sword at him. “No cheating. You don’t get to touch the blade. Tell me one true thing, and I’ll tell you what I know.”
He eyed me, only six feet away, but still infinitely deadlier than I was. I should’ve kept my mind on the training; someday it could save my life, especially if Dominic or Shane wasn’t there to help me. I was still an unreliable wild card.
“One true thing. Fair enough.” He transferred both daggers to one hand. The edges of the tree canopy overhead were tinged with gold. With sunrise, training was over.
I lowered my sword. My heart pounded in my throat. Who was he, really? What purpose did he have here as a master of lies? “Pertaining to you, of course. Don’t try to be sly.”
He was lying about so much. Trusting him blindly was the hardest thing I’d ever done, but I wanted to trust him so badly.
Dominic drew closer, completely ignoring Roman as he leaned close to whisper in my ear. His warm breath sent a shiver over my skin. “I love a witch possessed of wildfire. That is a truth.”
My heart felt like it’d been replaced with a burning coal, but instead of pain or suspicion all I felt was glowing warmth that filled me from head to toe. “I- you love-?”
“Yes. I love you.”
He was always so brusque, but his voice was all honey and bourbon when he said it, and my bones felt like they were slowly collapsing in on themselves.
I touched his face, his rough-hewn features familiar under my fingers now. “I love you, too,” I whispered, my voice breaking. There. Now we’d both shared true things. I thought of the Steelblood coven ring hidden in my closet, and what giving something like that to another witch meant.
I believed he was telling the truth. Dominic closed his eyes, leaning into me.
“I suppose I owe you what I know, then. Lockheart isn’t dead.”
His features tightened, jaw tensing under my touch. “And I thought hearing that you loved me in return would be enough of an exchange.” That was one of the things I loved about him- he was just as steely as his name, outwardly unfazed by his emotions even if he clearly felt them deeply. “Who is it?”
I hesitated and he grabbed my hand before I could pull away. His hazel eyes were narrowed as he looked me over.
“The vampire,” he guessed, and my eyes widened just a fraction before I schooled my features back into neutrality. “Ah, Lucrezia. Your eyes tell me the truth even when you want to lie. I love that about you.”
Aradia, when he said love, I wanted to melt into a puddle of happy goo. Instead I gripped his wrist. “How did you know?”
Dominic’s smirk was dangerously enticing. “He’s the only being in Cimmerian who could be old enough to be a member of a dead coven. And you’re the only one who would’ve been determined enough to get that close to him.”
“You can’t interrogate him, or spell him, or anything like that. He’s… important to me, Dominic.”
“Of course he is.” My professor tilted my chin up to kiss me, lacing a promise between our lips. “You wouldn’t sneak down into the basement so often if he wasn’t.”
My cheeks flamed red. “Am I that obvious?” If he knew, everyone had to. Becoming a spy was definitely not in my future.
“I caught you stealing blood, Miss Darke. I’ve had a charm planted on that door for weeks now.”
I mentally kicked myself. After the first few times that I’d searched the door and found nothing, I’d slacked on checking
for charms. So much for being sneaky. “So I’d make a terrible undercover agent. I love him too, Dominic. He’s one of… us.”
It felt strange to say us, like we were all part of the same family, but also right, like that was what we were all meant to become.
“I promise not to interrogate your vampire, Lucrezia,” Dominic purred. “At least not painfully. But if he holds any answers, or if he harms you-”
“He doesn’t and he won’t,” I interjected. “He remembers almost nothing.”
What could Dominic want with the cornerstone? It was calling out to me.
I was struck with a sudden fear that he would do something to destroy it. The thought of the mansion dying, becoming an inert mass of wood and stone and glass around us, was as painful as the thought of losing one of the men I’d fallen for.
With shock, I realized how possessive I felt towards it. I wanted it to be mine.
“We’re late, Miss Darke.” His eyes were brighter now as he processed the concept of a living Locke and how that fit into what he knew of Cimmerian.
Or maybe it was because he’d finally let down the barriers enough to confess a genuine emotion, and received my own in exchange. When he tossed his daggers aside and buried his hands in my hair, lips devouring mine, I thought it might be the second one.
***
Professor Bloom usually paced the Divination room languidly, like a flower drifting through a stream, but this afternoon there was a new tension to her stride. Her dark eyes landed on me with what I was pretty sure was venomous accusation.
I refused to look away until she did.
The crystal balls and tea service were gone, replaced with candles in a rainbow of colors and small velvet bags of runes, shells, and knucklebones.
“The Moons, Tatter, and Cold will practice ceromancy today.” Bloom held up an unlit candle. “The art of divination from molten wax and flame.”
She smiled, and if I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought that it was a perfectly lovely smile. But once you were accustomed to people of Daphne Vega’s ilk, they became much easier to pick out.