Page 100 of House of Ruin
“Alright, I think that’s enough for one day,” Alatar said. He tucked the file underneath his armpit. “We better let the kids rest.”
For a moment, nobody moved. But then, Reverie and Lyra rose from their seat, heading towards the door. And the rest followed.
Before leaving, Alatar walked over to Alecto and planted a kiss on her forehead. Her whole body went tense as a string the moment his hand landed on the back of her head.
“Don’t worry about a thing, sweet pumpkin,” Alatar said. “You kids focus on the lectures and the Game. And we’re going to make sure that whoever is trying to sabotage you won’t succeed.”
When Alatar left, Val got to her feet. She paced back and forth in front of the fireplace. “They treat us like we’re nothing more than pawns in their game.”
“Yeah, well, they are the alumni. We’re only here to keep the prestige going for them,” Alecto said.
Val shook her head and kept pacing.
“Why would Octavia want to remove the Dean so badly right now?” Val asked after a few moments of silence. “They had years to do that, and they didn’t care. Why now?”
“Somebody has been poisoning me,” Blaze said. Val looked at him. “Someone managed to have access to my food or drink or whatever enough times to poison me.”
“It’s not like you make it hard for them with the amount of alcohol you’ve been consuming,” Andro pointed out.
Blaze ignored him. “Who would have access to do so without being noticed?”
“One of us,” Jolene said. They all exchanged glances.
“It’s none of us,” Val said, her expression hard. “I can assure you of that.”
“Then someone else from the House? Another double agent?” Alecto asked.
“Son of a bitch,” Andro murmured, looking up at the ceiling. “Here we go again.”
“Might be,” Val agreed. “We need to figure out who.”
“Someone who works with Professor Namiad,” Blaze said. “We found this exact same poisonous plant in her office. It can’t be a coincidence.”
Val nodded, resuming her pacing once again. “Okay, here’s what we know so far—our alumni want to remove the Dean and replace him with a Snake. There’s someone out there trying to frame us for murders, and it might be Professor Namiad because she has the poisonous plant in her office. We have to find a connection between Professor Namiad and the Dean. If they’re working together, then it all makes sense.”
“If the Dean and Professor Namiad are working together to eliminate our House to save his ass, how are we supposed to protect ourselves?” Jolene asked.
Val looked at her. “Once we connect the dots, we will get the alumni involved so they can deal with the shit they stirred up.”
“Okay. How do we find the link between Professor Namiad and the Dean?” Alecto asked.
“I doubt Professor Namiad is the one going around sprinkling poison in students’ drinks or food.” Val smirked. “We have to find out who is doing the dirty work for her.”
It was midnight when there was a knock on Blaze’s door.
Blaze lifted his head from the pillow, trying to see if he’d only imagined the sound. For a moment, there was nothing but the sound of owls hooting and the fireplace crackling in the darkness of the night.
And then there was another knock. Quiet and gentle.
“Come in.”
When Alecto’s white-haired head came into Blaze’s view, his heart skipped a beat against his will.
It had been quite some time now since he’d completely lost control over his body’s reaction to her.
For a moment, Alecto stood on the opposite side of the room. Silent. Only half her face was lit by the smoldering fire; her usually stark eyes were dark now.
Blaze pushed himself on his elbows. “Anything on your mind, baby?”
