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And worst of all, would I never see Ari again?
This last question tore at my heart. Though I was frightened of the big Drake—even more frightened than I had been, since I’d seen him spout fire like a flame thrower—I was tied to him, too. And I couldn’t forget the gentle way he’d kissed my scars and then claimed and marked me publicly. He didn’t seem to care that I was a freak and an outcast to everyone but my own Coven. He had named me as his fated-mate and basically told the whole rest of the school to go screw themselves.
Now that was commitment.
He cares for me, I thought, looking up at him as we strode along, trying to keep up with Headmistress Nightworthy who was gliding ahead of all of us effortlessly. He honestly wants me.
The trouble was, his Drake wanted me too. And I still wasn’t sure how I felt about that…
Before I knew it, we were rounding the corner and heading down a long, dark, narrow hallway that shouldn’t have been there at all, if you looked at the castle’s outer architecture. Of course I had been here before with Megan so I didn’t flinch, but I saw Avery and Emma looking around in awe as we walked into the darkness.
Soon enough, we came to the wooden door at the end with the plaque that said, Headmistress on it. Headmistress Nightworthy opened the door and ushered us in, still glaring as we passed.
I tried not to meet her sharp blue eyes as we filed into her office and stood in a group before her antique Victorian desk.
“Now, then…” Rather than sitting behind the desk, she stood in front of it and crossed her arms over her lean chest. She was wearing a designer dress that draped beautifully around her angular form—as always, it was black.
“Now, then,” she repeated as she stared at our faces. “Will someone please tell me what was the meaning of that display in the Dining Hall just now?”
We all started talking at once.
“It was the bubble—” Emma protested
“The happy-gram,” Avery corrected.
“It made everyone angry and so I had to protect Kaitlyn by claiming her,” Ari said.
“It didn’t really happen that way though,” I said. “I mean what the bubble showed—”
“Nancy Rattcliff is behind all of this!” Megan exclaimed. “She stole Kaitlyn’s hair so she could work that spell.”
“The Edict no longer exists so Ari marking Kaitlyn should not be a problem,” Griffin pointed out.
“All right, enough—enough!” Headmistress Nightworthy held up her hands for silence. “One at a time!” she exclaimed, when we finally shut up. “Now first of all, I want to know if the contents of that ‘happy-gram’ bubble I received the minute I walked in the door of my office are true or not? Because if they are…” She gave Ari and me a withering look. “Then you, Mr. Reyes, have been abusing the privileges of the Drake’s Den. It is not meant for private trysts between lovers, as you well know!”
“We are not lovers, though Kaitlyn is mine.” Ari lifted his chin defiantly. “I have been bringing her there so that I could give her my blood in private. But much of what you saw on the bubble spell was exaggerated.”
“Grossly exaggerated!” I put in. “We never, uh…” My cheeks got hot. “Never made out like that,” I finally made myself finish, though my voice dropped nearly to a whisper. “Ari never took advantage of me, Headmistress. He was only feeding me his blood.”
“And this is another thing we now have to deal with.” The Headmistress threw up her hands. “The Healer sent me a message that one of our students had been turned into a Made Nocturne but it went astray. So I didn’t get it until I came back, just now.” She shook her head. “I leave the school for just a few weeks and when I come back, students who were not supposed to be Nocturnes have become Nocturnes, while other students are breathing fire like a circus act in the Dining Hall! What am I supposed to do with you? Any of you?”
“Just listen, please, Headmistress,” Griffin said quietly. “If you do, you’ll see there is a perfectly sane explanation for all of this apparent insanity.”
“I certainly hope so, Mr. Darkheart,” she retorted tartly. “All right, we’ll start at the beginning.” She looked at me. “Miss Fellows, how exactly did you become a Nocturne?”
“Well, it was my fault,” I confessed. “But honestly, Headmistress, it was a big mistake…”
I explained about letting Allegra bite me after she had nightmares at night and how I had never thought anything of it until I started feeling sick and not being able to eat human food.
“And now the Breedloves have kicked me out and I’ll never see Allegra again!”
My eyes filled with blood tears as I relived the awful pain of losing the little girl I loved so much. I had been pushing Allegra’s loss to the back of my mind for the past few weeks but now it all came flooding back again.
