Sabrina dipped her head. “It has been told to you over and over again that hellhounds cannot be tamed, and yet, for the first time in thousands of years, one came to the rescue of a lowly demon. Anyone who cares to follow their suspicions to the inevitable conclusion will realize that it wasn’t a hellhound who saved you. It was something or someone else in disguise. And why would anyone disguise and risk themselves to get you into this school?”
“No, wait— No,” I cried, head spinning. “How does it follow that just because someone helped me get into Abaddon, it means I’m a threat to whoever took Dora? Why in the world would someone think those events are connected a month after the fact?”
She stared at me for a long time, then nodded. “No, it’s you who is correct. A mysterious demon helped by a hellhound in disguise is too little information for her captor to jump to that conclusion. There’s no reason for them to think those events are connected,” she said, “which means you were overheard.”
I stilled. “Pardon? What do you mean? Overheard when?”
“Today. When you asked the wolf if he’d seen the demons who took your nestmate,” she said. “Someone heard—the one who took your nestmate heard—and realized there was only one reason the strange new student would be looking for those five particular demons.”
My skin prickled. I backed away as far as the pillows would allow me, as if hoping to escape the chill that ran up my spine. “Someone heard me...” I rasped. “And they acted that quickly? Murdering them all before class even let out? H-how? Who!”
“I do not know who. There are many beings in this manor with superior hearing, so there’s no guarantee they were even in the room when you spoke, but know thissss,” she hissed, “to paint the sign of the witches at the scene of the massacre is an act of terrible calculation. There has never been a witch in hell because there has never been a living mortal woman in hell.
“That is the case no more.”
I couldn’t help it. I shook under her gaze.
“If you are found, and it is almost a certainty now that you will be, the example that will be made of the invading witch will make all the tortures and punishments of hell look like a slap on the wrist.”
“But I’m not a witch!” I shrieked. “AndIwas in class when they were killed. Dozens of people saw me! No one could really think I had anything to do with this!”
Sabrina was unmoved. “You have everything to do with this, human, because now we know one thing to be true—whoever has your sister has no intention of giving her up. Even if it meansturning on their minions. Even if it means inciting old grudges, hatreds, and panics. They will not surrender their prize, which means that you... will never leave hell alive.”
Her words were daggers piercing deeper and deeper into my heart.
Taking a deep breath, I grabbed hold of those daggers, and ripped them out. “No.” Finality rang in my voice clear as a bell. “No, I’m not going to do this. I’m not despairing or giving up. So what, her kidnapper knows I’m here? As long as Dora is here too, it means I’ll find her.
“And if that bastard did overhear my whispered conversation in the middle of a busy classroom, it means something else,” I gritted, balling my fist. “The man who had her taken has superior hearing. The kind that can hear a heart beating from ten miles away.”
“A vampire,” she stated. “That is not an illogical conclusion. There is nothing the vampires want more in this afterlife than the living blood of a human. They will do just about anything—kill just about anyone—to get their handsss on it.” She turned her head toward the door. “But there is another, simpler, conclusion.”
Tristan came in carrying a goblet of ice, and some water for me too.
“Into whose ear did you pour your questions directly into?” she asked as he shot me a tight, blushing smile. “Who knew from the outset that you weren’t what you appeared to be? Who offered to remain by your side even though he’d gain absolutely nothing by doing so?”
My throat tightened—breaths coming in short rasps.
Tristan moved to the wardrobe and took out a pillowcase. Again, he was all shy smiles as he wrapped the ice for me.
“Who brought you directly to that ssscene of blood and horror?” Sabrina’s hisses slid into my ears, curdling my insides.“Who threatened you until you were forced to reveal your secret?”
Those beautiful, golden eyes filled mine as Tristan leaned over the mattress—trapping me between his body and arm—pressing the ice to my wound.
“Who now has the power to break the glamour and reveal your true identity to anyone, anywhere, and at any time he pleases?”
“I— I... uh...” My lips moved but nothing came out.
“And who now has you even more effectively trapped and at his mercy than your precious nestmate, Adora Hunter?” She rose high over his shoulder, meeting my wide gaze. “Consider, human, that you needn’t have found your nestmate’s captor.”
Tristan cupped the back of my neck—his large, powerful, ichor-stained hand encircling my bare, weak throat without strain. He tipped my head back, resting it against the ice, and propping the ice wrap on the headboard. Tristan didn’t move back or let go even though he could, and should have.
“Because he has already found you.”
CLASSES WERE CANCELEDfor the rest of the day. Naturally, there wasn’t some big announcement. I just had to wander the hall blindly for almost an hour until walking into empty room after empty lecture hall gave me the hint. But far from being annoyed, I used the time to sort through my jumbled thoughts.
Sabrina had a point. Sometimes the simplest explanation is the easiest. From what she told me. Tristan had bigger things than me to worry about, so why did he go out of his way to approach me? Why did he protect me from that fae, beat up Kazuya and those guys, and pledge to have my back? Why would he assume I was a homicidal witch just because I asked if he’d seen those guys around?
Was he just a gold medalist in jumping to conclusions, or did he purposely push me into revealing my true self? An act I fell for hook, line, and sinker.
