Page 83 of Taste of Thorns
“I don’t understand–”
“When you have your answers, will you simply let Bardin go – knowing you’ve created an even greater enemy for yourself? Or perhaps you’ll kill her – avenge your sister?”
Briony drops her gaze to the snow, her footprints creating a line in the snow between us.
“I’d want her properly punished for her crimes,” she says finally. “I want justice for my sister. And for all the others she’s killed.”
“But she’d deny it. She’s a tricky individual, Briony. Clever, manipulative, cunning. She’d claim she was just saying all she did because we were hurting her. And then we’d be the ones in trouble.”
“Then what do you suggest, Fox?” she says, throwing up her arms in frustration, the dragon huffing out smoke through his nostrils. The creature is growing rapidly. In the few days I’ve known of his existence he’s grown from the size of a baby foal to the size of a small cow.
“I suggest we go and find the others and consider our options.”
“More talking. More thinking,” she mumbles, folding her arms over her chest.
“If you want her properly punished, we’re going to need evidence and we’re going to need to be clever.” I stride towardsher, laying my hands on her shoulders. She stares up into my face. “She could turn the tables on us, Briony. We could be the ones who end up in trouble.”
“We haven’t done anything wrong,” she huffs.
“We’re from Slate. You know how that works. You know what that means.” I lean closer to her, resting my forehead against hers.
“But you’re a professor now. Surely, that means–”
“I’m still from Slate, Briony. My word against hers: who do you think wins out?”
“She’s a vampire,” she spits out.
“So am I.” She turns her head, looking away from me. “And I’m sleeping with you. If that gets out …”
Her head flips back around and her green eyes meet mine.
“Was she your teacher? Is that how it started?”
“Yes,” I whisper.
“And were you sleeping with her when you were a student and she was a teacher?”
“Yes,” now it’s my turn to look away, no longer able to meet her gaze, “and I swore I’d never be like her.”
“This is different, isn’t it?” she says.
“Yes,” I say, “fate has brought us together. Fate has destined us to be together.” I swallow. “But that’s what she told me too, Briony. That’s what she had me believe.”
“Fox,” she says, “Fox, look at me.” I force my head around. “Are you lying to me? About any of this? Any of this at all?”
I stare right into the depths of her eyes, even though it’s difficult, even though the temptation is to look away. “No.”
She nods. “She took advantage of you,” I go to argue, but she raises her hand to silence me, “I know that’s hard for you to hear, but it’s the truth. She took advantage of you and she killed my sister. She killed them all and she needs to be stopped.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Briony
I say goodbye to Fox, aware I’m being deceptive.
He thinks I’m going to the Princes; while I haven’t officially moved into their tower yet, I have been spending more of my evenings in their company.
Tonight, however, I walk around the corner, then, when I’m sure Fox is gone, I retrace my steps and head towards the Great Hall.
