Irene was about to gesture for the next student to take herplace—a trembling girl who had gone three shades of green during Tao’s exam—when a sudden knock at the door interrupted her. It creaked open, revealing another Ascended that Irene vaguely recognized. Samira Heydari stood at the doorway, an annoyed look in her dark chestnut eyes.
“I apologize for the interruption, Housemaster, but I need to speak with Irene for a brief moment.”
Marigold let out a sigh of understanding. “Yes, yes. Go on. But make it quick.”
Irene fixed Samira with a perplexed look before walking across the room and following the other Ascended out into the hallway.
“What’s this about?” Irene asked once the door had closed behind them.
Samira spun on her heels, her berry lips lifting into a smirk. An array of freckles dotted her dark brown skin, traveling across the bridge of her nose and down her cheeks. Her wavy black hair, which she had braided and secured with a ruby ribbon, had a silver streak that slithered over her shoulder. She was offensively pretty and a monstrous bitch, a combination that Irene couldn’t help but respect.
“I have a gift for you.”
Irene raised a brow in suspicion. “A gift?”
Samira reached into her coat pocket and produced a black envelope, dangling it between them. Irene rolled her eyes, snatching the envelope from the other girl’s hand, and ripped it open. Inside, she found a letter.
Pleasure awaits at the heart of Blackwood.
This evening, celebrate a new round of Council initiates.
Bring your most depraved desires and feast upon the forbidden.
A rush of excitement burst through Irene as the letter’s message echoed in her mind, though it had less to do with the ridiculous party she’d been invited to and more to do with what the party represented.
The Council—Blackwood’s enigmatic secret society in charge of all the school’s defenses—was about to select a new group of potential initiates in a tapping ceremony, which wasexactlywhat Irene had been waiting for. What she and Mateo had been planning for since the beginning.
Join the Ascended.
Infiltrate the Council.
And take Blackwood Academy down.
“Well?”
Samira’s voice drew Irene back to the present.
“Wellwhat?” Irene asked, clearing her throat.
“Are you going to go?”
Irene managed a nonchalant shrug. “I’ll consider it.”
Samira chuckled, as if she saw right through Irene’s feigned indifference.
“Well, if you ask me, I think you should go,” she said, slowly sauntering away from Irene, a coy smile on her lips. “Who knows…you might even enjoy yourself.”
Enjoy myself?Irene doubted it. But before she could snap back with a rebuttal, Samira was gone, waltzing around the corner and vanishing deeper into Elysium Hall.
Irene detested how the other Ascended had been treating her ever since she’d joined them. As if she were beneath them simply because she was new. As if they knew something she didn’t. Samira was no different—always watching Irene with a smug grin. Speaking to her with purposeful condescension.
Not that it mattered. There was business Irene needed to attend to.
And—more specifically—someone she needed to speak with.
Despite the circumstances, Irene had grown rather accustomed to the sight of a Demien sprawled across her bed.
When she finally made it back to her bedroom after her Ascended duties, she opened the door to find Mateo lying there, scribbling in a red leather-bound journal marked with the Demien Order’s sigil—three interconnecting circles bathed in black flames. He was always jotting things down in there…writing late into the evening. On most nights since she’d joined the Ascended, Irene had fallen asleep to the sound of pen scraping against parchment, the faint crackle of a burning wick echoing from Mateo’s side of the room.
