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The highbloods surrounding her backed up as she moved, laughing and shrieking, trying not to let any of the blood drip onto them. The gap between Quinn and Lucian widened. Her eyes still squeezed mostly shut, Dani stumbled towards it and bolted. This time no one tried to stop her.

“By the Three,” I snarled, reverting to an expression I’d grown up with. “What the fuck is wrong with you all? When are you going to grow the fuck up?”

“Calm down, Pendragon,” Gretchen drawled. “What’s the big deal? It was just a little joke.”

“Just a little blood,” Larissa agreed with a titter that made me want to smack her in the face. “This is Sangratha, after all.”

“At least it wasn’t dragon blood,” Edward offered, beginning to polish his stupid dagger with a small cloth. “At least, I don’t think it was dragon blood.”

“It couldn’t have been dragon blood, Edward,” Quinn said sweetly. “Pendragon’s stupid dragon hasn’t been seen in days. It flew off and abandoned her. This time for good, I think.”

Gretchen gave a fake gasp of sympathy. “Oh, poor little Pendragon. You’re all alone.”

“She sure is,” Quinn continued, her voice venomous. “She probably thought Blake would come running to defend her. But oh, no, it seems like he’s disappeared, too.”

Her words shouldn’t have mattered to me. Still, they hit me like a punch to the gut. I tried hard not to show it, but I must have flinched a little, because Quinn’s eyes lit up as if she’d scored a point.

“That’s right.” She lowered her voice to a whisper and stepped forward. “Without him, what do you have left? You’re dragonless. Mateless. Just pitiful blightborn trash.”

“Seems to me we should have saved the apple,” Lucian drawled nastily, eyeing me up and down. “You’re less than trash, Pendragon, you’re—”

“You’re boring,” Theo interrupted loudly as he stepped into the center beside me. He slowly turned, looking at each of the high-bloods with an expression of aristocratic disgust and shaking his head. “And wow, that really is impressive. Six vampires should be badass. Intimidating. But what do you have? One blood apple and a First Year.” He gave a slow theatrical clap. “Bravo. That’ll really show your enemies what you can do.”

Quinn growled and leaned forward, opening her mouth, but Theo was already turning away. He looked at Evander, then Lucian.

“Does Visha know where you two are? Because if she did, I have a feeling we’d be mopping your blood off the floor right now.”

“I didn’t—” Evander said quickly, his face flushing.

“Oh, you didn’t?” Theo echoed. “You didn’t just stand here and watch them bully that poor First Year? I’ll be sure to tell Visha that later. I’m sure you’ll like how it plays out.” He looked down his nose at the other highblood. “You’re a waste of space, Evander. Absolutely pathetic.”

I doubted Theo had even seen Visha since that night in the Dragon Court. But since he was doing a damn fine job of schooling her two consorts, I wasn’t about to stop him.

“Come on,” Evander muttered, grabbing at Lucian’s arm.“Let’s go.”

Lucian glared at me. I had no idea what I’d done to bring out this side of him. Before this, I’d had a casual relationship with Visha’s future consorts. We’d said hello in the hallway, waved once in a while. We’d never been close, but at least we’d been polite.

But now … there was something in Lucian’s eyes that made me wonder what else was going on.

“You’re right,” Lucian snapped, not taking his eyes off me but beginning to walk backwards. “She’s not worth it.”

“But the year is young,” Edward said lightly, finally sheathing that fucking dagger. He reached out and grasped Quinn gently by the wrist. “Plenty of time for this later. The assembly, remember?”

Quinn lingered for a moment, her eyes on me. “You have absolutely no idea,” she said, finally smiling cruelly. “Things are about to change, Pendragon. And I promise you, you’re not going to like the new rules.”

Gretchen and Larissa were already walking ahead down the corridor. Taking Edward’s hand, Quinn started to follow them. Gretchen glanced back and took one last shot. “Start practicing your curtsying, Pendragon. You’re going to be spending a lot of time on your knees from now on.”

Edward waggled his fingers and grinned. “Sanguis et Flamma Floreant.” Then they turned a corner and were gone.

I didn’t move. Not right away. My blood was still burning. Theo was still staring after them down the hall. Vaughn stepped up beside him with a worried expression. I opened my mouth to thank Theo—and felt a hand touch my shoulder from behind.

My body reacted before I could even think.

Fist already forming, I spun and punched. There was a grunt of pain as my fist connected.

“Bloodmaiden,” someone groaned. “What in the ever-loving fuck was that for?”

Shit. It was Blake.