by LJ Swallow
Gently, he takes my shoulders and moves me back. "This is the exact reason why I chose to protect myself. This is why I need that pendant back. I can't expect others to look out for me."
"And you can't get the pendant back."
"Watch me." I’m stunned as he turns and hurries away again.
What the hell is happening here? At the end of last term, we all grew closer, uniting against the uncertainty and threats that swirl around us.
Is this unity enough?
Chapter Fourteen
MAEVE
Is it weird that I know where Andrei goes after class most days? Since returning to the academy, I’m wired and unable to sleep. Refusing to lie in bed brooding, I normally take a walk around the academy—not too far because the Dominion attack is still fresh in my mind. I find the walk uses up my nervous energy and helps me sleep.
I often see Andrei, but never close enough to speak to him. He sits on a bench beneath a willow tree in the centre of the cloisters—the place other students gather on or around in the daytime. Does it bother Andrei that he never sees the daylight?
Back then, he occasionally wandered off into the grounds, and my curiosity got the better of me one evening. I followed him. Why? Because I wanted to see if Andrei secretly fed on humans. But mostly I wanted to see that he didn't feed on humans.
Andrei visited the small building used by human staff for lunch breaks and sat on the wall outside, silently. Without his phone.
If he sensed me close by, Andrei never said anything. I only followed once, relieved but guilty I doubted him.
Last term, if I passed him, he’d occasionally say hello but his guard was up and we never spoke. I took that personally, until I discovered the truth Tobias forced Andrei to hide from me.
Who is Andrei, the child of Gabriella Tepes? Why does he hide from me? He can’t much longer. Whether Andrei likes or not, he’s linked to our group by Tobias and events in recent weeks.
Tonight, I hesitate and watch him from behind the cloister pillars as he sits on a bench hitched over. His hair flops forward as he studies his phone.
The same as every night.
Since the winter ball, I’ve craved his company more. Is this because he stormed in to help me with disregard for his own safety, or more? The conversation we had inside the dance revealed a gentler, damaged side, and for a moment I felt I’d pierced his armour. But Andrei did what he needed—told me about Tobias’s brainwashing—then backed away.
My phone sounds and I look down too. A message from Amelia asking where I am. I lie and tell her I’m studying.
Tonight, I’ll break our drought and talk to him.
Andrei sits on the bench tonight, phone in hand. I once joked to him the thing must be surgically attached. He scowled but said nothing.
I approach, my footsteps soft on the lawn between the path and the tree. Only when I sit beside him does he speak, without looking up.
"Hello, Maeve." He clicks his phone and shoves it into his hoodie pocket. "Are you stalking me again?"
Andrei’s presence always disconcerts me. I try not to, but I worry about the vampire’s attraction to witch blood. Yet, each situation we go through together draws us nearer. Andrei's actions at the winter ball proved something he probably doesn’t admit to himself.
Andrei cares about me.
The guy who swears he cares about nothing has shown the opposite—he was prepared to risk himself for what he sees is right.
I glance at his profile as he stares ahead. There’s no denying his looks captivate me—the smooth face and sharp cheekbones, the full mouth and the startling eyes where emotions he hides slip through sometimes.
Andrei places a hand on the bench between us, taking away the chance I could move closer.
"How are you, Andrei?"
"Are you looking forward to the games?" he asks, dodging my question.
"Not really. Are you?"
He snorts. "I’ve asked my dear father to keep me out of them. They're pathetic and cause more disharmony."
"That’s what I don’t understand either. Forcing houses to compete can’t be healthy since there's already bad blood."
"Yeah." He clamps up and shifts as if he’s about to stand.
He can’t walk away. Not yet. "Over the holidays, did you ask your family about Tobias?"
Andrei pauses and turns his head, one brow arched. "You’re nosey."
"This involves me. Us. I thought you’d want to dig around for more info about him."
He shrugs his jacket closer. "Nobody tells me anything, and I don’t ask."
"You prefer to be ignorant?" I ask in surprise.
"No, I prefer not to ask questions. My words could be twisted. People could question my motives and point at me as a traitor."
"But your father..."
"I don’t see much of him. He’s a busy man." His jaw sets hard.
Although disappointed he doesn't have any answers, his decision to remain ignorant surprises me.
"Did Tobias tell you not to ask anybody?"
His unblinking stare continues. "You mean, did he threaten to turn me in to the authorities for murder, if I asked?"
Does Andrei expect me to look away? Show disgust? "Murder is pre-meditated, Andrei. You killed by accident."
He shakes his head and looks away, snorting to himself. "You’ve changed your tune since you arrived at the academy."
"This world is more complicated than I realised. Black and white don’t exist." No response. "Does this worry you? Do you think Tobias would say something?"
"Tobias? I don’t know who or what I’m dealing with. None of us do. You should get your witch boyfriend to do some digging. He’s good at finding info."
Witch boyfriend. I shift in my seat. "Jamie?"
"Why? How many witch boyfriends do you have?" Andrei’s eyes glitter. "Is Ash bothered about him and you?"
"There’s no ‘me and Jamie’. Why are you asking me this?"
I shiver in the cool night and my chest tightens as Andrei moves his face closer to mine, ensuring he holds my attention. He smells of mint, the way he always does, but there’s a subtle woody scent that dives into my memories.
"Why do you think I'm asking?" he whispers. I stare back in confusion. He can't mean... Andrei smirks. "I'm asking to change the subject and shut you up, Maeve. I don’t want to talk about me. Why don’t we talk about you?"
He moves his face away again and I breathe easy. "Okay. We don’t talk about me or you. But I wanted to thank you for helping me at the winter ball."
He shrugs. "No big deal. I had to interfere when I saw a professor dragging a girl into dark room."
"You saw? But I was in there a few minutes before you walked in."
"I waited. Didn’t want to disturb you in case you were having fun."
I balk. "What? That’s ridiculous."
"Is it?" His eyes bore into me. "The tension between you two could light the room."
"He’s trying to distract me by using his pneuma powers. That’s all."
Andrei chews his bottom lip and stretches his long legs out. "We should take Tobias down."
Wow.
"What do you mean?"
"And Vincent. They're both full of bullshit and lies. I don’t believe either man is who he says." He pushes his fringe away. "But then I think I can't be bothered. I don’t want to be pulled into the middle of all this shit."
"I think we already are," I reply and he chuckles. "What’s funny?"
"‘We’."
"Because the six of us are in this together, Andrei. The more that happens, the closer we get. I worry about everybody, including you, and what might happen to us."
"You mean like my inevitable death?" he mutters.
Before I have time to register what I'm doing, I place my hand over Andrei’s. "That won't happen."
He doesn't move and stares into the dark. "Are you holding my hand, Maeve?" he asks with soft amusement.
"Me? No. I'd never do that."
/> "True. That would be weird."
He links his long fingers through mine, and we sit in silence for a few moments. Andrei's skin is warmer than I imagined, and my heart thuds faster.
"Definitely would be strange," I reply.
Andrei shifts so our legs touch, his hand still firmly holding mine. Reaching out, he places fingertips on my cheek.
"Are you touching my face, Andrei?"
"Me? No. I would never touch you." He traces his fingers across my cheek to my mouth and my stomach flutters at his soft touch.
"Not even when we hide in the dark?"
He pauses. "Be careful who you hide with, Maeve. You can't see through the shadows."
"But I see you more clearly when we're alone in the dark. Don't I?"
A shiver ripples through me as he skims my bottom lip with his thumb. "Maybe you do."
Is this where everything starts? The beginning of the Andrei and me in my vision? The last time I spoke to Andrei in the dark, at the bonfire, he was this guy. Less guarded. Reaching out. Wanting to connect.
Every time we connect. Each time he helps me. Everything between us happens in the dark.
But Andrei’s holding back. His fingers press into my cheek and he pulls away, breath coming faster as he looks at me.
"You should be frightened of fire too, Maeve. Don’t play in the flames."
I rub my lips together imagining his kiss. "I’ve walked through the fire since I arrived and you need to follow."
Why won’t he put his arms around me? Hold me closer? I ache for this affection as much as I crave his kiss.
Andrei moves from me and goes back to staring ahead, and our hands and lives stay firmly intertwined.
"I’d like to not hold your hand again sometime," he says with a quirk to his mouth. "If you want to, meet me again tomorrow. I know you follow me."
My heart races with the desire to stay here with Andrei longer, but he stands. Stepping away, he releases my hand at the last second before shoving them into his pockets.
"I told you once, you can’t resist the bad boy, huh?"
I poke my tongue out at his teasing. "You’re not the bad boy, Andrei."
"Sure, Maeve." I bristle at the derision in his laugh, until I realise this is at himself. "See you tomorrow."
Chapter Fifteen
MAEVE
I cross from the main academy building towards the staff quarters with my hand in Ash’s. Jamie and Amelia walk alongside us, although Amelia hangs back. I understand her concern—I’m nervous that Vincent invited a pack of shifters to his welcome party. Ash invited me, Jamie, and Amelia to join the celebrations. I was hesitant knowing Vincent’s dislike of witches, especially a future-sighted one, but Ash insisted. I wanted him to invite Andrei too, but Ash just looked at me as if I were insane.
Knowing Andrei, he’ll arrive anyway.
The staff quarters are contained inside a building to the rear of the grounds; each professor has a separate wing and temporary visitors stay in rooms on the ground floor overlooking the gardens. Theodora lives in seclusion at the top of the building, where she can literally oversee her academy by looking across the grounds and to the moors beyond. The place is off limits to students, a place of privacy for the staff, and a party unusual. Which staff will visit tonight, if any?
We step inside the rooms and I immediately stop. Not due to the number of shifters draped across sofas or gathered in corners, but the size and opulence of the place. The wood-panelled walls and flock wallpaper look like original features, and the decor lovingly recreates the era. People sit in wing-backed armchairs beside small tables with ornately carved legs. Persian rugs cover the polished floor and heavy maroon velvet drapes hang to the floor.
Two doors lead to the left and right and a staircase at the rear of this room heads upwards. In a residence like this, I’d expect a refined party with expensively dressed guests sipping wine from crystal-cut glasses.
Not rowdy shifters in scruffy casual clothes piling up empty beer cans or half-empty whiskey bottles.
"Nice," murmurs Ash.
What do Tobias’s rooms look like? What does he do there? Who does he invite? I shake the crazy questions from my mind. That isn’t my business.
But I can’t drop one question—will he attend tonight?
Others in the room watch as the four of us walk through the door, some in silence and others muttering to each other.
"Drinks first," says Ash with a grin. "Then I’ll introduce you to my brother. He looks pretty busy."
Vincent stands with a small group of guys close to a door, but I can only see his broad back and the mass of brown curls touching his collar. He’s taller than Ash, and larger than most of the group he’s with. I find him more formidable than I expected for a guy suffering after his years imprisoned.
I’m tempted to ask Ash for something stronger than Coke, but I agreed with Jamie that we’d keep ourselves fully alert tonight. We huddle into a corner close by the door while we wait for Ash to return. I’m relieved he’s quick as he returns with several drinks held effortlessly between his palms. He nods to his brother on the way by.
"Having fun yet?" he asks and nudges Jamie, who continues to watch the room as if he’ll be eaten alive any moment.
I take my drink. "Thank you for inviting us."
"So formal, Maeve. You know I want you to meet Vincent properly."
"Yeah, I heard you had an awkward moment," butts in Jamie.
Ash widens his eyes and looks at me. "What did you say?"
"Nothing. Your secret is safe," says Jamie with a chuckle.
Despite the insinuation, I’m happy their banter has lightened the mood.
Ash laughs loudly and Vincent turns.
I meet Vincent’s eyes and the hard suspicion in his ramps up my anxiety. Crap. I refocus on the Coke Ash hands to me. Maybe I should’ve slipped a vodka into this. Sipping my drink, I lift my eyes back to Vincent.
He’s as attractive as Ash, sharing the same large brown eyes set into a handsome face. His square jawline is covered with a day’s growth and his lips curve into a smile as he shifts his attention to Ash.
With a pat on the back of the guy he’s speaking to, Vincent heads over. His imposing nature isn’t only physical. Ash radiates a commanding power; his brother has a presence that focuses everybody on him and not only because this is his night.
Running his tongue along his bottom lip, Vincent stares at me and Amelia.
"Which witch is which?" He chuckles at his joke and Jamie tenses beside me. "I mean, who’s your latest? The blonde one? Both?"
I clench my jaw at his reducing me to my hair colour, and the connotations of his ‘latest’. He knows damn well I’m the girl Ash is with. Ash takes my hand in both of his and rubs my knuckles.
"This is Maeve."
Again, the disdain as he drops his eyes to our interlocked hands and then back to me. "Cute. What happened to Cordelia? I thought she was your girlfriend."
Ash scoffs. "When I was twelve."
"Yeah, but her family and ours. Close, y’know? Good match." He nods at me. "I’ve heard about you. I thought my brother was star pupil and now here you are, superwitch."
Ash’s fingers grip mine tighter at Vincent’s rudeness.
"Just kidding!" he says. "If you’re able to help catch the bastards who abducted me, I’m happy you’re a super witch."
Amelia stands close to Jamie, further away from Vincent. "You’re Amelia, right?" She smiles and nods. I’m uneasy but poor Amelia’s not coping. She loves her excursions into the human world, but not this time. This is a shifter world.
He smiles back and switched focus to Jamie. "You’ve changed. You’re not the scrawny kid I remember."
Jamie holds his hand out. "Great to see you again."
Vincent wrinkles his nose at Jamie’s offer of a handshake and takes a step back. "No need for formality, man."
"I’m happy you’re back," says Jamie.
Vincent drinks from the bottle in his
hands. Was that a deliberate attempt to avoid physical contact or is that my paranoia speaking? "Me too." He gestures at his friends. "Why no Gilgamesh, Ash? I hoped you’d invite some proper friends."
"These are ‘proper’ friends." His indigence drops when Vincent glares.
"Come and chat the guys, Ash," Vincent says as he walks away.
Ash huffs. "Sorry he was weird. Vincent’s not himself."
"Agreed," mutters Jamie.
"What?" asks Ash sharply.
"I mean, he’s different to the Vincent I remember." Ash’s eyes remain narrowed. "Jeez, man. That’s all."
I rub Ash’s arm. "Of course, Vincent isn’t behaving like himself yet. I understand."
"I didn’t think it would be a big deal for me to bring witches and not shifters. You guys are my best friends." He chews his lip. "I should talk to his friends, though."
He lets go of my hand and wanders away as if magnetically pulled after his brother. Vincent wraps an arm around Ash’s shoulders and raises a loud toast to his little brother.
The three of us watch silently for a moment. "Let’s move." Jamie indicates a small sofa in the corner, away from most partygoers.
A grateful Amelia follows and I glance back at Ash. No point telling him we’re moving, he’s engrossed.
Chapter Sixteen
MAEVE
Why did Ash invite us? He’s hardly spent any time with us. Instead, we’ve faced an evening of awkwardness around shifters watching us with suspicion as we stood with an academy professor who once told us frightening secrets.
"You should slow down, Jamie," I say as he drains his third beer. "You don’t usually drink much."
"I almost didn’t come," Jamie admits as he drops down, and I sit beside him.
"Why?" asks Amelia, joining us.
"Because this party is full of prejudiced shifters, as I expected." He indicates a squat guy at a table with two others, his face round and features hard. "That’s Ollie. He hates witches. I heard he caused a huge divide between Gilgamesh and Walcott when he was at the academy. Him and his two friends are like those Petrescu guys from the ball—they like trouble."
