Page 117 of Bone Year

My heart lurches into my throat because I know that voice, and it doesn’t belong to Professor Bale.

Draven stands at the front of the classroom, a token pinched between his fingers. My name. He drew my name.

What are the odds? What are the actual fucking odds?

Two nights in a fissure zone with the vampire who never misses an opportunity to remind me I don’t belong here. Who pushes me until I break and then looks at me like he expected nothing less. The last thing I need is him telling me I can’t cut it while we’re fighting for our lives. On the positive side, now I can question him about being the prince, and if this is a secret he wants to keep, he’ll need to give me something in return. I want to know what he and the headmaster are up to.

I rise from my seat, forcing my face into something neutral. I refuse to let him see me rattled. I meet him at the front and follow him to where the other pairs are waiting.

Ellavee ends up partnered with a shifter named Gray. I don’t know much about him, but she doesn’t seem upset about it, probably because he’s tall and attractive, which is usually all she requires of a man before she decides to play with him.

Jace and Killian are together, and I don’t like it. Killian has never been nice to me, and he and Jace have apparently decided they have something in common now, their mutual hatred for me. I try not to look at them.

“Emil will be threading most of you to your locations.” Professor Bale goes down the line, handing out envelopes and packs to each pair. “Open the envelope to see where you’re going and head to him when you’re ready.” So the silver-haired fae’s name is Emil.

Draven takes our pack and shoulders it then opens the envelope. I lean closer to see the map. It takes everything I have not to stare at the side of his face while he’s reading.

Draven Aldric, I think and then shove the thought down before it can reach my face. You don’t know I know.

Bale walks past us and glances at our map.

“Ah. You’re the only team that doesn’t need Emil’s services.” He gives Draven a short nod. “You can head out when you’re ready. Do try to stay warm.”

Great. We’re the only team staying in the Frostlands. I was hoping we’d be headed somewhere warm, or at least somewhere not covered in snow and ice.

“Let’s go,” Draven says quietly.

I follow him toward the courtyard, the line of other pairs still waiting for Emil stretching out behind us. I glance back once. Ellavee is already talking to Gray while braiding her blonde hair to one side, her black and yellow snake Mr. Wiggles is twisting around her arm while she braids. Leave it to Ellavee to name a scary looking serpent Mr. Wiggles and not give an explanation. Lux catches my eye and waves, and I manage a smile for her that I hope looks like any other goodbye.

It isn’t, and she knows it, and her hand lingers in the air before she drops it.

Then I turn and follow the lost prince of Valen out into the snow.

Chapter Twenty-Five

“You will be paired with whoever the school believes you need. Rarely with whoever you want. Remember, nothing at Ashwell is random.”

— Professor Bale, Lecture Notes

I reach for the map, and Draven sidesteps me like he saw it coming from a mile away. “I know how to navigate, you know.”

“Do you?” He holds the map out of reach, one eyebrow raised. “Because you’ve been walking slightly left for the last hour. We’d be circling back to Ashwell by now if I let you lead.”

“Maybe I was trying to escape your company.”

“And yet here you are, still talking.” He hands over the map with a look of exaggerated patience, like he’s humoring a child.

I snatch it from him and make a show of studying it, even though my fingers are so cold I can barely feel the parchment. We passed through a small village about an hour ago, mountains to our left, frozen lake to our right. “Looks like a couple more hours if we keep this pace.”

“Assuming you can keep this pace.”

“Assuming you can keep your mouth shut that long.” I fold the map and shove it into my pocket before he can take it back. “They couldn’t have spared us a carriage? A horse? Anything? I didn’t realize this midterm included a survival test on how not to freeze to death.”

He doesn’t say anything, but I swear I see something shift at the corner of his mouth. It’s not a smile, but he’s enjoying this and doesn’t want me to know. Even if our assigned location is in Frostlands, it doesn’t mean we couldn’t have threaded here. I bet the other teams didn’t have to hike this far, and if they do, at least it’s not in the snow.

We’ve been walking for hours, and my legs stopped cooperating somewhere around hour two. Every step through the snow feels like dragging my body through wet sand, and the cold has moved past uncomfortable and into the kind of numbness where you stop shivering and start wondering if that’s a problem.

Draven slows his pace until he’s beside me instead of three steps ahead. It’s a nice change. I’ve been staring at his back for hours, which would be fine if he ever bothered to turn around and acknowledge I exist.