“We should probably go in now,” I said in lieu of telling him how happy he had made me, which was definitely what he was hoping for.
He nodded, but the way his eyes lingered on my lips told me what he was really thinking about. Good grief, he was insatiable. When he didn’t make a move to knock on the door, I turned away from his hungry gaze and did it for him. I heard him take a deep, disappointed breath as the door swung open almost instantly.
The smell of incense filled my nose to the point that I could practically taste it. Dash gestured for me to enter first, and I stepped into the Chancellor’s strange, disorganized office. The long, narrow room was even more claustrophobic after dark without any sunlight streaming through the blinds to prove that there was still a world outside. The only light in the room at all came from candles. There must have been hundreds adorning the room, some in wall sconces, others in elaborate candelabras, while still others sat in single votives scattered hazardously among the books and papers the covered almost every surface. Sweat immediately beaded in the hollow of my throat. I tugged at my cloak collar, trying to nonchalantly wipe it away. How could she stand it in here?
Chancellor Singh sat in the leather chair behind her enormous wooden desk, a golden chalice cupped in her right hand. “Over here, please.”
I tried to cross the room with dignity, but I knew I was skulking. There was no reason for me to be here. I hadn’t broken any rules. Well, I had when I left campus through the breach, but she wasn’t supposed to be able to know that, so unless Wallace and Braden had just been setting me up, this summoning was absurd. There was something dangerous happening at this school, and she should be trying to put a stop to it, not calling students into her office in the middle of the night for entering the opposite gender’s dorm.
I stationed myself in front of her desk, arms clasped behind my back in a mirror image of Dash’s subservient pose. “You wanted to see me, Chancellor?”
She smiled thinly and took a sip from her chalice that left her upper lip stained lightly red. A chill came over me. Rationally, I knew she was enjoying some red wine before bed, but irrationally, she looked an awful lot like a vampire. Her tongue darted out and cleared the stain away. She placed the chalice on her desk and tilted her head.
“What business could you possibly have had in the woods this evening, Ms. Song?”
My mouth parted, but I didn’t have any words to explain. If she knew I went into the woods, then wouldn’t she also have to know about the two men who were chasing me? Was this a test to see if I would tell a truth she already knew?
“Ah, I see you are still surprised by the fact that nothing gets past me.” The Chancellor leaned forward, folding both arms on her desk. “After the unfortunate death of Mr. Billings and the unauthorized training accident which befell Mr. Thomas—” she lifted her eyebrows at me, “—I had alarm wards placed all around the tree line. Nothing else will enter or leave this campus without my instantaneous knowledge. Now, what business did you have out there, Ms. Song?”
Gulping, I darted my eyes over to Dasharath. Kissing wasn’t the only thing we had done in the woods tonight. Between the second and third kisses, I’d told him how there came to be a dead man in the clearing with me, or, rather, a version of how that happened which didn’t include any breaches or talking wolves. But I did tell him how the men had been searching Braden’s room for something of Lucas Billings’, and how they had chased me into the woods where I used the shield I had learned about in class to deflect their magic, causing the man’s own spell to backfire and kill him, which sent the other man running. Then my grandmother showed up and gave me my wand. Which he then teased me into throwing into the forest. And I suppose he must have felt appropriately guilty for that because he agreed to kinda–sorta make the body, well, disappear—at least to some other location.
“I thought I heard something,” I said lamely, at long last. “And then I got lost.”
“Hmm.” She pursed her lips. “What sort of something did you think you heard that was so important that it needed to be investigated, but not so important that you needed to fetch a professor?”
“I don’t know,” I mumbled. “Like a hurt animal or something.”
“I see. So you’re a wildlife veterinarian. How lucky for us.”
My cheeks flamed and I looked down at my shoes. “I was just curious. I didn’t know it was such a big deal.”
The Chancellor chuckled. “Since you’ve arrived on this campus, we’ve had one death and one stabbing, and yet you believed some silly animal was worth entering the forest over?”
My jaw clenched, remembering the way the wolf had been staked out in the lawn the day I arrived. “I’m sorry, Chancellor. I guess I’m just the kind of silly person who takes action when someone or something is hurt.”
Dash made a slight gasping noise next to me, and the Chancellor’s eyebrows shot up her forehead. “Do I detect a note of accusatory sarcasm in your voice, Ms. Song? If you have something to say, by all means, say it plainly. Don’t let me stop you.”
My hands balled into fists behind my back, and I clamped my lips together, shaking my head. Chancellor Sing rose, and for the first time I could see clearly that she was wearing a silk robe. Did she live here? Or had she just transported from her home in such a hurry that she hadn’t bothered to dress?
She had time for wine though. Clutching the chalice, she breezed around the desk until she was leaning against it right in front of us. “Ms. Song, do you know that there are some on this campus who believe you should be a person of interest in the murder of Lucas Billings?”
“That’s preposterous,” Dash sputtered, earning himself a furious gaze from his aunt.
She looked back to me with another thin smile. “I don’t think that, of course. I think you’re just a girl who wasn’t raised properly.”
“Hey!” I snapped, clenched fists swinging around to my sides. “I was raised just fine.”
The Chancellor lifted her hands, as if that could possibly calm me. “In our ways, Ms. Song. You weren’t raised properly in our ways. So you’re having some trouble adjusting to life on campus and all of our, what did you call them? Stupid rules?”
Gritting my teeth, I said, “I don’t think they’re stupid. I just think they aren’t… very clearly spelled out.”
“Funny you’re the only one having all this trouble, hmm? Oh well. I suppose Mr. Thomas isn’t blameless either.” She took another sip of wine that left her lips glistening. “Perhaps you’ve also got a case of perceived Proteus privilege?”
“What?” I asked, face screwing up in confusion.
She regarded me with cool eyes over those wet, red lips. I found my gaze searching the immediate area for a napkin or piece of cloth or anything to offer her to blot her mouth on.
Finally, she ran her tongue over them, but instead of making it better, it made it worse because she finished by biting her lower lip and deepening her stare into a glare. It suddenly occurred to me that she might have already been several chalices of wine into the evening when her ward alerted her that I’d entered the woods.
“It’s not unusual for a Proteus to let their perceived power go to their heads, to get the idea that they are invincible or indispensable.” She seemed to suddenly realize her face was twisted cruelly and smoothed it into a smile. “Just remember the old saying, Ms. Song. Jack of all trades, master of none.”
I winced. What was that supposed to mean? That instead of being really amazing at one brand of magic, I was doomed to just be mediocre at everything? That’s not the reaction I’d gotten from Professor Yates about my performance in martial magic. Not that I was proud of blowing poor Genoveve’s arm clean off her body, but it did get me invited to join Serenity’s clique. Not that that was something to be proud of either, but... I was pretty sure she didn’t recruit mediocre minions.
Chancellor Singh suddenly lurched away from the desk and the slight stumble of her left foot proved—to me anyway—that my theory ab
out her being well under the influence was true.
“Dasharath,” she said, slurring the middle syllable. “Is it true that Ms. Song was merely wandering lost in the forest when you found her?”
Dash snapped to even stiffer attention. “Yes, ma’am. She was actually quite distraught. It was abundantly clear she did not want to be out there.”
“You took long enough finding her.” The Chancellor rounded her desk, bumping her hip into the corner. She slapped her hand on the surface for balance, scattering papers and making me and Dash both jump.
I heard Dash swallow before he answered, “She had gotten very turned around...”
The Chancellor waved a dismissive hand in the air. “Yes, yes. If you have nothing more interesting to say, you may go.”
Dash’s mouth opened and closed once. He cleared his throat and said, “I’ll see Ms. Song safely back to her room.”
His aunt laughed as she plopped down in her leather chair. “Wait outside, Dasharath. I’m not quite done with her yet.”
Dash looked at me helplessly. I darted my eyes toward the door behind us to tell him it was alright. I had worked in a diner, after all. I knew how to handle sauced middle-aged women up past their bedtimes.
Looking pained, he gave a half bow to his aunt, and then scurried from the room.
The moment the door clicked shut, Chancellor Singh slammed her chalice down on the desk. “I know you’re getting the idea in your head that I’m some sort of tyrant.”
“What? No! Of course not,” I stammered.
“As I already explained to you, the rules exist to keep us safe.”
“I understand. I just didn’t know the woods were—”
“I can overlook you removing your ring the one time to help Mr. Thomas. I can overlook you obviously lying to me about the circumstances of his accident.” She traced a finger around the rim of the chalice. “I can overlook you walking around campus with a big white staff like some kind of magical hobo or entering a male dormitory after hours without an escort and staying for quite some time. I can overlook your self-righteous attitude and your lackluster upbringing...” At this point in her speech, her eyes began to lose focus. “I can even overlook your whole spotty lineage.”
“Say what?” I hissed, magic suddenly vibrating in my palms.
“But one thing I will not be able to overlook, one thing I could never forgive...” She blinked and her gaze sharpened like a sword she wanted to run through me. “If you break my nephew’s heart, I will break yours in every way you can possibly imagine.”
A cold shard of terror stabbed at my heart, forcing my jaw to drop. “I… what? No… I’m not… we’re not…”
“Pshhh!” Chancellor Singh exploded. “What sort of fool do you take me for? You don’t get to be the most lauded healer in the land without the ability to read the most subtle forms of bodily information. Heart rate. Breathing patterns. Sweat production.” She took a sip of wine and then curled the corner of her stained lips upward. “Lies.”
“With no disrespect to your talents, ma’am…” I licked the sweat beading my lip, “I haven’t told you any lies.”
She banged the chalice down so hard it toppled over, spilling the small amount of deep red liquid left onto a manila envelope on her desk. She didn’t even acknowledge it, so busy was she in glowering at me.
“My nephew is my prized possession, Ms. Song. He is smart, handsome, and talented without any help from my last name, and yet year after year he is used and abused by young witches like yourself who see him as nothing but a means to ingratiate themselves to me.”
“I would never do that!”
She smiled and set the chalice upright. “Then you mean to tell me your intentions toward him are sincere?”
My mouth opened uselessly. She stared at me expectantly. It felt like every pore on my body was opening wide and gushing sweat. What did she mean when she promised to break my heart in every possible way? Was that dramatic hyperbole like my dad threatening to sit on our porch with a shotgun that he didn’t even have, or was that a real threat? And against other people I cared about? For some reason, my thoughts flashed to Braden in his hospital bed.
I tried to force saliva into my dry mouth, but I could barely muster anything at all. My voice rasped when I finally carefully answered, “My intentions are sincere.”
That wasn’t the same as saying they were serious, right? Sincere just meant I wasn’t trying to use him to get to her. She had never even entered my mind when I started kissing him, so that much was true.
“Wonderful,” she said. “He’s quite smitten by you. Enough to speak out of turn to me! Hopefully you’ll not put him in any more situations where he feels the need to do that?”
I stared down at the dark wood floor. “No, ma’am.”
“No more removing your ring or chasing after animals in the dark? No more training with Mr. Thomas?”
My eyes flew up to hers. “But—”
“Unauthorized, I mean. Of course Wallace will have you sparring and such, but no more sneaking off and stabbing each other, hmm?”
Why were my ears burning so hot? I glanced away, smacking my dry lips. “I learned my lesson.”
“Excellent.” She stood abruptly. “If we’re all clear on that matter, then you are now free to go. I look forward to not seeing you in here for quite some time.”
She came around the desk, staggering just the slightest bit, and ushered me toward the door. With one hand on the knob, she sank the nails of her other hand into my upper arm. I tried not to cringe.
“We are all clear, aren’t we?” she asked in a low tone, silky as her robe.
I nodded. “Crystal.”
She wrenched the door open and practically pushed me into the hall. “Goodnight, Meena. Dasharath.”
As soon as she slammed the door, Dash peeled away from the wall and came to my side, grasping my hands and peppering me with questions to which I could only nod or shake my head. Out from under the Chancellor’s penetrating gaze, the ramifications of her words made my whole body begin to shake.
Dash slid his arm around my waist and led me toward the stairs. “I’m so sorry you had to see her like that. She doesn’t normally drink that much, really. She’s just under so much stress these days. I promise you don’t need to be afraid of her. Well, we all need to be a little afraid I suppose. It keeps us safe. She just wants to keep us safe, you can see that, right? You don’t have anything to be afraid of. And no one will ever have to know you’ve gotten mixed up with that Billings business. I mean, the body may turn up somewhere eventually, but they won’t connect it with you—”
“Dash, shut up,” I hissed, eyes darting around the stairway. “Not here.”
“Oh. Right.” He folded his lips into his mouth and looked down.
After a few more steps I sighed and said, “She knows about...” I tried not to outwardly grimace. “Us.”
He looked at me, stricken. “You told?”
“No!” I said sharply. “She guessed.”
His eyes squeezed shut for a long moment. At last, he sighed and opened them. He flashed me an adoring smile and curled his fingers into my side. “Well, I guess she would have found out sooner than later anyway. Not like we can keep our hands off each other!”
“Ha-ha, yeah...” I forced a smile at him. My brand-new boyfriend.
Chapter 5
“Wake up, sunshine.”
Even though the voice from my doorway was distinctly female, I startled, bolting upright in my bed, terrified that Dash had somehow finagled his way into Boleyn Hall to bring me breakfast in bed. Or worse, that he’d been in here since last night, even though I could remember firmly—but ever-so-gently—telling him my lips could take no more kissing for one evening.
“Uh-oh.” Leia frowned. “Were you in the middle of a nightmare?”
Slapping my hands over my face and pushing my fingers up into my hair, I flopped back onto my bed with a groan. “I think I still am.”
“Hmm,” Leia hummed, and I heard my door frame creak as she leaned against it.
“Hmm what?” I slitted opened one eye, just enough to see her standing there with one arm folded across her midsection and the other hand stroking her chin as though she had a long goatee.
“Would this proclamation have anything to do with your very late night?” She arched an eyebrow and then glanced toward my window. “Or is it just because you know it’s almost time for your first lunch date with Serenity?”
Oh, crap. In the excitement of everything else that went down last night, I had somehow completely forgotten that I had approached Serenity at dinner yesterday evening and groveled my way back into an invitation to her ‘study group.’ With an infuriatingly triumphant smirk, she had given me permission to eat lunch with them today at precisely 11:30 so that they could ‘further assess’ my ‘qualifications as a potential study partner.’
I squeezed my eye shut and yanked the covers up over my head. “I don’t make good choices.”
Leia laughed. “Girl, the way I heard it at breakfast, you make very good choices. Dasharath Singh?”
“Oh no.” I flung the covers back and sat up. “Who all knows?”
“Who all knows?” She tilted her head and scrunched up her face. “Let me think… Oh, yes. Everyone. Seriously, Meena, for news that big, you could have woken me up when you came in! I can’t believe I had to find out from Oliver!”
“Oliver!?” I jumped out of bed, muttering, “No, no, no...”
I started throwing on the first clothes I came to. If Oliver knew and was blabbing it all over the dining hall, then Braden had almost certainly heard too, just like he had heard about me blowing Genoveve’s arm off in martial magic class by the time I went to visit him last night. And if Braden thought...
Well, so what? Why did I care what Braden thought?
My mind flashed back to the awkward moment when he gave me the key to his room and joked about how I couldn’t keep it. That seemed like a pretty clear signal not to let myself think... well, not to care what he would think if he heard that I was dating Dash.
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