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“No,” Oleander said grimly. “Shasta is my cousin. She was so excited to start school here, and then she just goes missing the week before classes are due to start? No. That’s foul play. And everyone I’ve talked to said it was odd that the others just picked up and left.”
“Then everyone doubts what the headmistress said happened to them?” I asked.
Oleander shook his head. “Mostly they all buy Aurea’s lies, but we know the truth. Those faeries didn’t wander off under their own power. We’re pretty sure they were kidnapped.”
“Why?” I wondered aloud. “And by whom?”
“Your guess is as good as ours,” Morgana said. “If we can figure that out, we’ve solved the mystery.”
I ate my toast slowly, savoring every bite. It probably wasn’t the best thing I’d ever tasted, but at the moment I couldn’t think of anything I loved more than strawberry jam and crunchy white bread. So many questions buzzed around the inside of my head, but one was more pressing than the others.
“I don’t mean this to sound offensive but... why do you care?” I took a breath as I faced Morgana. “I mean, I get why Oleander is trying to solve the mystery. He has a personal stake in this, but… you don’t. Why go on a hunt for the missing people?”
The smile dropped off Morgana’s face, leaving it remote and a little tired. She looked older when she wasn’t exuding nonchalance or wicked sensuality. It was a reminder that she was older and more worldly than I was.
“Because I know what it’s like to be ignored by the people who are meant to protect you,” she said in an icy whisper. “I wasn’t supposed to be in this position. That was Sienna’s job, but she killed herself, rather than become the hostage. She hated being confined to this place, forced to sneak past vampire guards to have even the barest hint of a life. You have no clue what it’s like. I haven’t had a lover in decades. How could I, with a phalanx of those bloodsuckers listening in? I’m a little better off than Chesley, I suppose, who’s confined to the night and the company of the Grimsbanes. I go out in the day sometimes and get my flirt on.”
“Then… Rook doesn’t date either?” I asked.
Morgana laughed like it was the best joke she’d heard all year. “No. He’s been celibate for even longer than I have. The only women in his circle would never bed him. He only took the position as Professor Valserak’s TA to get out of his dorm room and have a chance at interacting with people other than the Grimsbanes. I’d do it too but... ugh, I don’t want to pair up with any of those self-important bitches.”
My heart performed an odd little flutter at that. If what Morgana was saying was true, it was possible that I’d been Rook’s first kiss in decades. Sure, he’d been an ass afterward, but he’d kissed me. That meant something, right? When he’d told me to leave before he could get any other ideas, I’d assumed he meant biting me. But with this knowledge at hand, I had a feeling he’d meant something different, something more carnal.
His hot-and-cold routine was starting to make a little more sense now. If I had to guess, he’d been burned once too often by the witches in the centuries since he’d become a hostage. They would have tried to make him as miserable as possible. My flirting had probably just been salt in his wounds.
I cleared my throat self-consciously and said, “The first pixie went missing near the start of last term, so you’ve been looking into this for about a year now, right? Do you have any solid leads?”
“We’re pretty sure someone inside the castle is responsible, but we’ve suspected that from the start,” Morgana said. “Oleander’s secret shortcut has been a gift from the goddess. It would have taken Chesley and me a lot longer to explore the nooks and crannies of the place without it. We’d only cleared half of one wing. Now we’ve canvased ninety percent of the castle. There’s only the dungeons and the nearby towns left.”
“This place has a dungeon?”
“You better bet your dimpled ass,” Morgana answered.
I frowned at her. “Thanks, but it’s not dimpled.”
“That you know of.”
“Anyway,” I started but she continued.
“The dungeon is warded, and I’ve only just worked out how to get past the wards. If the missing students aren’t there, we’re in a definite pickle. Security is too tight to get out of the castle before the holidays. Only Oleander can make it, and he might be the next one to disappear if he goes out alone.”
He looked at her and frowned. “Thanks for that.”
She shrugged.
I asked, “so, when do you plan to search the dungeon?”
Morgana grinned. “Tonight, so you’re just in time. The work will be a lot easier split between two witches. I’ll order food from the kitchen around ten o’clock, so you have an excuse to come to my room. Then we’ll make our escape and meet the boys outside the dungeons.”
“Right,” I started and didn’t look convinced. “On the note of ‘the boys’…”
Morgana shook her head. “Leave Chesley to me.”
“Don’t hex him,” I said. “It’s not worth alienating an ally.”
And because you don’t want to see him hurt, my mind added traitorously. Because you are way, way too into this guy. William and Amos were right. You like vampires too much for your own good. Besides, he doesn’t even like you.
He likes certain parts of you, my mind argued. If you could just be a normal witch, you could enjoy him without the romance.
