Page 62 of Dark Embers

“Kendall, that’s insane,” I said, my voice rising in pitch. “You know what happened to my mom. You know I could never be in league with the people who killed her!”

His brows rose, and he instantly put his hands on my shoulders, though his touch did nothing to comfort me. “Arya, I don’t believe what they’re saying. I know it’s not true or even possible. You’re no traitor. I just can’t figure out why Letti… It’s just very confusing.”

I nodded slowly, then took a deep breath. As if things at this school couldn’t get any worse, now all the mer were convinced I had tried to kill Letti.

“Is she going to be okay?” I asked, shoving my indignation aside.

“She lost a ton of blood,” he replied, rubbing his chin. “Her broken bones were easy for the harpies to heal, but replacing her blood will take time. And she got a pretty hard hit to the head. Even once her body is healed, her head may not be. Mending the mind isn’t so easy for harpies to do.”

I let out a heavy breath, somehow feeling even more weighted down. I needed Letti to wake up, and soon. Not only to help me solve the mystery of my mom’s death but also to stop these horrible rumors before they spread out of control.

If Cora and Adina had been avid to eliminate me before, just for being an outcast, there was no telling what lengths they would go to now that they suspected me of attempted murder.

Chapter 23

Tobias

Though the Avian common room held the normal buzz of activity after a long holiday—mostly dreary faces and complaints about being back—there was a frantic, panicked energy in the halls of the Dome.

I walked slowly as students turned to each other in hushed whispers. A lot of girls were crying and hugging each other, pointedly ignoring my presence, which was unusual. Since Niko wouldn’t be back for another hour due to a delayed flight, and Brett was still in his room, probably asleep, I couldn’t ask either of them what the apparent mass hysteria was about.

Fortunately, Miss Tanis rounded the corner and was heading in my direction with her head down.

“Aida,” I called, using her first name without thinking. I blamed my informality on the circumstances and my reason for speaking with her, and hoped that since she was a relative, she wouldn’t mind.

But she didn’t seem irked when her glistening eyes met mine. She’d been crying, too.

“What’s going on?” I asked without pretense.

She swallowed hard and blinked a few times before adjusting her frames and tucking a piece of her short hair behind her ear. “You haven’t heard?”

I shook my head.

“There was a vampire attack on a student.”

My pulse beat to a desperate and frantic tune as she explained what she knew. A girl had been found on the secret subway platform leading into the Dome, almost completely drained of blood.

I barely registered the words because I had to know the answer to my next question. “Who?”

The brief pause before her answer felt like a hundred years. Was it a were? Another avian? Though I didn’t think a dragon would allow a vampire to get the jump on them very easily, it wasn’t completely unheard of. And Niko wasn’t back yet.

Was it Arya? The very thought sent panic flooding through my body and overpowering all of my senses. I was imprinted to her. Surely, I’d have gotten some sense she was in danger. Right? Right?!

“It was one of the mers,” Miss Tanis said, causing my heart to hammer against my chest. “Letti,I think is her name?”

“You think?” I didn’t mean for it to come out as a snap, but it only took me the split second that Letti’s face flashed in my head, and the hesitation in her voice, for me to fear that she said the wrong name. That maybe it wasn’t Letti, but someone wholookedlike Letti.

She leveled her gaze on me with her head slightly tilted. Her emotions didn’t show, but I suspected she was curious about my reaction.

“Was it Letti?” I asked, forcing my tone to steady. “Or…someone else?”

“It was Letti,” Caesar confirmed, coming up behind me.

I closed my eyes momentarily to calm the rising flood of emotions in my chest.

“If you would please excuse us, Tobias,” he said. “I must speak with Miss Tanis.”

“Of course,” I said and waved a quick goodbye before heading down to breakfast.

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