Page 126 of Bone Year

“Yes, that.”

He sighs, and I laugh through my nose.

“What’s your wolf’s name?”

“Noctis.”

“What does it mean?”

“Of night. Of darkness.”

“Fitting.”

I pet the top of Noctis’s head and pull the covers up over both of us.

The room is quiet for a long time.

Noctis’s breathing has slowed against my side. The fire in the nave has burned down enough that the orange glow under the door has gone thin.

“Draven,” I whisper.

“Mm.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“You’re going to anyway.”

I stare up at the ceiling, and the crack in the window whistles faintly behind my cloak. I debate if it’s wise to ask but can’t help myself.

“Do you think Malric killed Senna?”

“This is what you are up thinking about,” he sighs.

“The headmaster said it was a twisted creature that somehow got past the wards and found one girl and drained her and left no other damage.”

“I know what he said.”

“I saw Malric try to bite her once. He tried to assault her outside the dorms late one night after the Mirror Ceremony. I pushed him off her, and Poppy bit his hand.”

“No wonder he hates that raccoon. I would have liked to see that,” he chuckles.

I turn my head toward the edge of the bed. “So do you think he did it?”

The silence that follows is long enough that I start to hear my own pulse in my ears.

“I think Malric is capable of a lot of things,” he says finally, “but I don’t know if he did it or not.”

“If it’s even a possibility, then why hasn’t anyone done anything?”

“Because proving it would require someone with more power than any of us currently has.”

“But you believe he may have done it.”

“I believe Malric has done things that should have cost him his life, and he is still walking around Ashwell because of who his father is and who he knows.”

He still hasn’t really answered the question. He thinks it’s possible he killed her but doesn’t seem to care that his friend is a murderer if that is the case. Draven and Malric showed up at the tavern together that night. That means he was with him right after it happened. Could Draven have been in on it too? Are they both killers? I imagine a vampire prince has probably killed before, but then why would either of them want to be healers?

“Draven.”