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“Did you have anything to do with her death?” Lords asks.
DeWinter’s eyes shift to me and my boys, then back to Lords. “Tell them to leave. This is inappropriate.”
Lords smashes his fist down on the podium. The crash makes us all jump.
“What’s inappropriate,” Lords growls, “is you keeping silent while Jade’s family grieved, not understanding what happened to their daughter. What’sinappropriateis you letting the eye of suspicion fall on our students when you were to blame—”
“I didn’t kill her!” DeWinter bursts out. He pulls his right hand out of his pocket and holds it out. “I will swear to that. Yes, we were involved. Yes, I know it was inappropriate since she was a student. But I had nothing to do with her death.”
“Nothing?” Lords presses.
I don’t know if he can see the bead of sweat that runs down DeWinter’s cheek, but I sure can.
“It was all a misunderstanding,” DeWinter begins, his hand faltering and falling to his side. “That terrible boy and his glamor. It’s all his fault. Everything would have been perfect if he hadn’t gotten involved.”
DeWinter casts a glare of such pure loathing at Darwin that I’m up and out of my chair, shielding Darwin with my body, before I even think about it.
“Darwin was the father of Jade’s baby, Robin,” Lords says. “A paternast spell confirmed it.”
“I know he was,” DeWinter says, giving away so much with those four words. “Of course, I knew he was. They don’t let fertile males leave the courts. Not even the weakest of the blood. They trap us there tobreedfor them.”
“Which House are you?” Darwin asks.
DeWinter sneers in our direction. “I don’t answer to you,prince.” He spits it like a curse. “You and your precious father have no power here.”
“But I do,” Lords says, his tone low and strangely ringing. I’m not sure what power The Mr. Black wields on Bevington’s grounds, but it’s clearly something. I feel it all the way down to my bone marrow, even before DeWinter bows his head. “Answer him.”
“Balfour,” DeWinter says, his tone stilted. Lords’s power is compelling him somehow.
“One of Eunan’s?” Darwin asks. At DeWinter’s nod, Darwin says, “Then you’re a Winter prince, just like me. How dare you speak so badly of your blood?”
“How dare I?” DeWinter snarls. “How dare I? What do you know of my blood, you coddled, entitled, pompous little shit? You strut around this school like it’s part of your court and we’re all your subjects. You take any girl who catches your eye and glamor her until she falls into your bed. Jade was sweet and loving andperfectuntil you twisted her and bred her like a sow to produce another generation ofmonstersjust like you and yourblood. What happened to her was a mercy—”
Lords clamps his hand on DeWinter’s arm. DeWinter goes rigid like he’s just touched a live wire.
Lords leans in until he’s nose-to-nose with DeWinter and growls, “Jade died screaming, terrified, and in agony. I’ve had nightmares for months that she was still alive when they cut the baby out of her. Is that what happened? Is that what you did?”
“No-no-no,” DeWinter babbles. “It wasn’t me. It wasn’t me, Evan. I couldn’t do something like that. I loved Jade. I wouldn’t ever have hurt her. They took her from me. They said they’d fix it. Take histaintfrom her. I never thought they’d hurt her. It was a mistake. It went wrong but they didn’t mean to hurt her—”
“They carved the baby out of her and fed its unborn soul to a monster!” Lords roars at DeWinter. “They sacrificed her baby and they murdered her! That was not a mistake!” He pants with fury, his whole body heaving. “Who, Robin? Who did you give her to? Who did you fail to protect that innocent, pregnant girl from?”
DeWinter shrinks in Lords’s hold. “I don’t know who all of them were. I don’t know.”
“Names, Robin!”
DeWinter sucks his lips into his mouth and pushes them out several times before he whispers, “Hector. Alan. There were others but I didn’t see their faces. They were robed. Hooded. We don’t show our faces—”
“Yes, I know,” Lords growls in disgust. “I’ve learned a lot about your little coven over the last few months. You hide even from each other. But I’m sure you recognized voices. Any others?”
DeWinter shakes his head. “No one else spoke.”
“Kneel,” Lords says.
“Wha-what?”
“Kneel!”
Everyone in the room but Lords drops to their knees. Darwin and Charlie pull me backwards into their arms. We huddle together, unable to rise against what feels like a metric ton of pressure holding us on our knees.
