Page 72 of Revenant

When we leave my room, it truly feels like the last time I’ll ever see it, and I’m not mad about it.

We get back to Koen’s room, and it’s like we never left. Bastian and Koen sit comfortably on the sofa, lounging as if they don’t have a care in the world. Still no Pryce, and thankfully no Eryx either.

“Figures she would have you do all the heavy lifting,” Bastian says, humor in his voice.

“Why do you think I brought him instead of you?” His mouth pops open in shock and I laugh.

“So we’ve been talking,” Koen announces.

Elias interrupts. “That’s never a good sign.”

“We think it would be good for Alicent to get off campus. At least while we’re still trying to track down Eryx,” Bastian finishes, gauging our reaction.

“That’s the daftest shit I’ve ever heard,” Elias comments, setting my suitcase down. “She’s safer being here with us, then out there. Or have we been locked in here for so long you forgot about the werewolves?”

“We would send her with Reed,” Bastian adds, but I deflate, wishing it was one of them. I know they physically can’t leave the property, but I don’t know if I’m okay with going off with a stranger. “And…we still can’t find Lacey Morgrave.” He continues. “So the two of you can check the town nearby.”

In the midst of all my self-loathing, I completely forgot about Lacey. Who apparently hasn’t been seen since the bonfire. “You think she’s close?”

“We had one of the fourth-year witches cast a locator spell to find her, and it seems she’s either managed to cloak herself, or someone more powerful is doing it for her. Luckily, we still had a sample of her blood on hand and it doesn’t lie the way a cloak does,” Koen explains. “Her blood verification came back with some interesting markers we’d like to discuss with her, but Bastian scared her off before we could.”

“It’s not my fault—”

“Who exactly would you blame? Alicent?” Elias questions, which immediately has me curious.

“To be fair, the way Alicent looked that night was enough to drive a priest to madness. And Lacey hadn’t been initiated yet—I needed a distraction, and I thought it would be funny to scare the little witch.”

It’s idiotic, the jealousy that uncurls in my chest. Sad, actually, that he had not one but two of them that night. I have no right to feel this way; I didn’t even know him then. Still, the image of him and Naomi against the tree has my stomach turning hard enough that I have to swallow against it.

I realize what I just did, and my eyes immediately find Bastian’s, who is sporting a very wicked grin that makes my heart do flips and turns my insides to goo.

“Is anyone going to ask me what I thi—” The front door blasts open, and I’m stunned to see Naomi striding in.

Koen and Bastian move as one, putting themselves between me and the door. “Finally, do you know how hard it is to track you down?” she says, eyes only on Bastian.

“Now’s not the time, Naomi.”

“Why are you even here?” Koen asks, arms crossing over his chest.

“None of you have been keeping appearances in class, and I literally tried every other room before this one. You were bound to be somewhere on the property,” she tells them, seemingly unbothered. Her gaze moves to me as I step out from behind Bastian and disgust paints her face. “Not this bitch again.”

My voice climbs before I can rein it in. “What the hell is your problem with me?”

“My problem is that you seem to think you stand on a pedestal, when in reality, you’re nothing but a fucking bug stuck to my shoe.”

“That’s enough!” Bastian yells so loudly I’m certain the window panes shake. “Just get the fuck out, we don’t need this right now.”

“Listen, I still can’t find Lacey. I wasn’t worried at first, but I’ve called her a million times, and she’s not picking up.”

“Well then, you’re in luck. We have a plan to find her, so I suggest you apologize to Alicent.”

Naomi flings her arms out dramatically. “What’s the plan?” I’m sure everyone notes the missing apology. Not that I was expecting one.

“I’m going to find Lacey,” I tell her, really wishing I was already gone before she got here.

“Then so am I,” she insists.

“That would be a firm no. Besides, I already have someone to accompany me.”