Page 103 of By the Orchid and the Owl
Mr. Fenway probablydidhave a family out there, though. A family that Fergus clearly hadn’t thought about when he’d told his mold to kill.
Asshole guys grow up to be abusive men.I wasn’t sure which of those Fergus qualified as now, an asshole or a real abuser—perhaps being a murderer surpassed both of those—but Ididhope Dionysia’s Mind Manipulators would somehow manage to sniff him out without violating any of my friends.
Because if Fergus stayed, I knew that mold would eventually come for Gileon.
And me.
Coen escorted Sasha and Sylvie to their house to grab nightgowns and toiletries, clutching my hand the entire time we waited for them on their front steps. After they returned, he took us all to my own house so that I could do the same.
By this time, stars were pulsing into the gray film of dusk overhead, but the entire campus buzzed with nervous conversation as if nobody would be heading to bed for a while. I actually had to shove myself through two Wild Whisperers locked in conversation in the doorway, debating how Mr. Fenway had died.
Once I got to the bunkroom, Emelle sprang upon me.
“Rayna! Where have youbeen? I didn’t realize you were gone until after they took Mr. Fenway’s body away. Then I was so worried, I asked some birds to keep a look out for you, and Wren is out trying to find you right now.”
“I’m sorry, Melle.” I rummaged in my drawers for some sleepwear and a toothbrush. “I felt nauseous seeing Mr. Fenway like that, so I ran outside to puke.”
I didn’t know why I was lying, not after all Emelle had done to earn my trust, but… no. I straightened. She deserved the truth.
Clearing the uncertainty from my throat, I said, “I’m actually going to spend the night with Coen.” When she raised her eyebrows, I peeked around to make sure we were alone and whispered, “if the Good Council finds out what Lord Arad revealed to us in that abandoned classroom, I’m as good as smoke.”
I expected a sudden glimmer of understanding to dawn on Emelle’s face at that, but she just pinched the lines of her forehead together.
“What are you talking about, Rayna?”
I stared at her. My nightgown dangled from my fingers.
“Lord Arad. The vampire heir. Remember what he said? About my mother?”
Emelle took a step back. Her heel hit the foot of our bunkbed.
“Are you feeling alright, Rayna? Maybe the events of today have gotten to your head. I’ve never heard of this Lord Rad thing. And what’s this about vampires?”
She let go of a nervous chuckle. I stared and stared at her.
Finally, I chuckled, too. There was only one explanation for her bizarre forgetfulness: Coen had erased her memory of Lord Arad. And as much as I wanted to feel angry at him for that, to scold him for touching my friend’s head against her will, I couldn’t. Not when Emelle’s lack of awareness would protect her tonight.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I reached out to squeeze her hand. “The events of today have just gotten to my head. I’m sorry.”
Emelle shook her head. “Don’t be. We’re all pretty shaken up. Poor Mr. Fenway. I just can’t fathom what kind of disease would knock him out like that.”
At that moment, Coen’s voice sliced through me at the same time that a hundred or more vultures screeched out words of profanity from the sky outside.
I ran to the window. They’d been tethered, those vultures had, to a new carriage that was angling toward the courtyard now. And from the curses flying out of their beaks, ringing through the air, I knew they’d been forced into pulling the carriage.
Hurry, Rayna, Coen was growling into me.
Hurry, because the Good Council was here.
CHAPTER
38
Icould sense them prowling outside all through the night.
Coen breathed against me on one side while Sasha and Sylvie curled together on my other side. Between the four of us, that massive king bed of Coen’s finally seemed rather small, but I didn’t care. Didn’t care, either, that anyone who’d seen the four of us steal into the room together would be confirming Kimber’s rumor tomorrow morning. I could practically hear the whispers that would follow us.
Whores. Whores. Whores.
