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“It’s Dani, you dumbass,” the Bloodguard beside him said, bursting out laughing.

“Thank you, Cade,” I said coldly.

“Whatever. Dani. I knew that.” Silvio looked annoyed. “Whatever her name is, she’s my thrall. The law is clear. You wouldn’t trample over highblood custom, would you, Headmistress? Not after all you and Lord Drakharrow have done to uphold tradition.”

I glared at him. Tradition. It was tradition for an archon to be the final authority in a triad, too, to have total control over his consorts. Tradition. The word suddenly tasted like iron chains.

Rodriguez rounded on me. “If you leave this girl another hour, I assure you it will be too late. You’ll be trying to resuscitate a corpse. Custom be damned.”

A clear, sweet voice rang out. “What’s going on here? Is something wrong?”

I whirled around as Medra Pendragon and Florence Shen emerged from the nearby stairwell. Florence’s eyes were wide. She looked demure and innocent. Medra, on the other hand, assessed me from green flashing eyes. I wondered if Blake was far behind.

Wonderful. More witnesses I absolutely did not need.

I drew myself up a little taller. Silvio had stepped back. Now his fingers tightened on Dani’s arm. The girl swayed, her eyelids fluttering.

Rodriguez swore under his breath. Then he leaned down. “Do you even know who this girl is?”

I stared at him blankly. “A First Year, I assume.”

“She’s Professor Stonefist’s niece,” he hissed. “Do you want to tell the professor, who I might add is already none too pleased with you, how her niece died in your halls because you refused to send her to a healer?”

I stared back at him thoughtfully. The fact that Professor Stonefist was dwarven did complicate things—in a way I could use to my advantage in this situation. We’d already had dwarven deaths. Viktor had received a missive from the Dwarven Council demanding that there be no more this year. I knew he didn’t want to have to worry about the threat of their involvement as he continued rolling back blightborn freedoms above the surface. I reached a decision swiftly.

“Professor Rodriguez, escort this thrall to the First Year infirmary, if you please,” I declared.“Silvio, she may be your thrall, but you will feed from her only if and when a healer decides it is safe. And as she is a pupil at Bloodwing and you have caused what may be permanent injury already, you will do so only under supervision.”This was pushing things a little, but I didn’t care. I felt suddenly reckless.

Anger flashed across the Bloodguard’s golden face. “Is that an order, Headmistress?”

“It certainly fucking is,” I snapped. “Now, clear out. You’ve behaved like a fool. You’ve embarrassed me and this school instead of doing what you were supposed to do this evening and guarding the blooddamned doors.”

Silvio stalked off. I knew he’d be trouble later. Resisting the urge to rub my temples, I turned to the other three guards. “Are you blind? Don’t you see Miss Shen standing here waiting to enter? She’s our guest of honor tonight. Open the fucking doors.”

Rodriguez put his arm around Dani and gently led her down the hall. As I watched, he turned his head and looked back at me. He nodded. Was that meant to be thanks? Stiffly, I nodded back.

“Miss Shen,” I said quickly, before she could move past. The blightborn girl’s dress was a fanciful concoction of silver. She looked pretty and pristine and pure—my opposite in every way. As I spoke, she paled and looked up at me as if she were afraid. But I’d become used to such reactions.

“Yes, Headmistress?”

I took a deep breath. “You look lovely this evening. Congratulations on your engagement and best wishes on your future union to Kage Tanaka.”

“Th-thank you,” she stuttered, her brown eyes widening.

Medra said nothing. I could feel her watching me, but I refused to meet her eyes. A trumpet played, announcing Florence’s arrival. Medra swept in after her.

The doors shut behind them. I stood there for a moment, trying to regain my bearings. I hadn’t meant to say that. I wasn’t even sure where the words had come from. It wasn’t like me to be gracious or bother trying to be kind. That wasn’t who I was—or who anyone expected me to be.

“Headmistress.” It was Cade, one of my Bloodguards. He stepped forward and looked me up and down appreciatively, his eyes lingering on certain parts of my body a little longer than was strictly appropriate. “Are you attending the ball alone?”

I raised my chin. “I am.”

“If you’d like an escort, I’d be happy to accompany you.” He grinned at me.

I stared up at him, still feeling offkilter. My archon, a wretched specimen of a highblood, was in Veilmar, no doubt drinking his fill from his trove of thralls and fucking half of them senseless while I stood here alone, doing his bidding, the obedient consort as always. Inside the hall … my breath hitched. Inside, Florence Shen was no doubt being swept into Kage Tanaka’s waiting arms.

And this was how it would be. Now—and forever. This was my life now. This was what I had chosen for myself.

I forced a crisp smile. “That’s very sweet of you, Cade. But I’ll be fine.”