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“When is the last time you spoke with the maid Ileana?”
My heart pounded. Seemed Thomas and I weren’t the only ones who thought her behavior suspect. “I believe it was two days ago, the evening of the thirteenth, sir.”
“You believe so. Is attention to detail not critical to being a student of forensics? What other things might you miss that would be detrimental to a case? I ought to strike you from the course now and save us both time and energy.”
I bristled at the bite in his tone. It was harsh even for him. “I was being polite, sir. The last I saw her was the thirteenth. I’m certain of it. I’ve had a new chambermaid since then. She’s informed me Ileana’s on duty elsewhere in the castle, though I no longer believe that to be true. Perhaps you ought to speak with her and see what she might be hiding about Ileana’s whereabouts.”
Moldoveanu inspected me with the squinty-eyed look of someone staring at a specimen under a microscope. I pressed my lips together, no longer trusting myself not to snap at him for taking so long to speak again. “And what, exactly, do you believe to be true about Ileana now?”
“I believe she knows something about the murder of Mr. Wilhelm Aldea, sir.” I hesitated before voicing my next concern, worried that if Anastasia returned unharmed, she would murder me when she learned I’d betrayed her trust. “I—I also wonder if she knows where Anastasia is. Anastasia left a note for me… begging not to tell you where she’d gone, but never offered any further details.”
Moldoveanu’s hand flexed at his side, the only outward sign of how furious he was. “Yet you didn’t bother to inform me of your suspicions. Do you recall anything out of the ordinary over the last few days? Anything substantial to confirm your claims?”
There was the matter of the two people I was certain I’d seen dragging a corpse through the woods. I’d already told him about that, and he’d sn
eered. I wasn’t about to subject myself to further scrutiny. “No, sir. Just a feeling.”
“A feeling. Otherwise known as a nonscientific finding. How unsurprising for a young woman to be ruled by her emotions instead of rational thought.”
I slowly inhaled, letting the action calm the flames of my own annoyance. “I believe it’s important to incorporate both science and instinct, sir.”
The headmaster curled his lip away from his pointy incisors. It was truly remarkable that a man could be in possession of such animalistic teeth. I was beginning to wonder if it wasn’t a medical condition he ought to have checked out when he finally clicked his tongue against those instruments of impalement.
“We’ve already spoken with your new chambermaid. She’s been dismissed from her duties. I suggest you stay away from Ileana if you do see her again. You may return to class, Miss Wadsworth.”
“Why? Do you believe she has something to do with Anastasia’s disappearance? Have you searched the tunnels?” The expression the headmaster offered was nothing short of terror-inducing. If I’d thought his teeth were intimidating, it was nothing compared to the depthless loathing in his icy gaze.
“If you were a wise girl, you’d stay out of those tunnels and any chambers located in them. Heed my warning, Miss Wadsworth.” He glanced into the surgical theater, gaze landing on the corpse. I could have sworn there was a flash of sadness before he turned back to me, eyes full of rage. “Or you might find yourself under Percy’s blade next.”
With that, he pivoted on his heel and marched off, leather soles slapping the floor. Snakes seemed to slither through my intestines. Somehow I made my way back into the surgical theater and sank into my seat. I went through the motions of taking notes, but my mind was torn in half.
I needed to know how the girl on Percy’s dissection table had perished, if not solely from the bats’ depredations. But I needed to sort out the mystery of both Ileana’s and Anastasia’s whereabouts as well. Thomas watched me over his shoulder every few moments, lips pressed in concern.
Percy’s next words pierced my racing thoughts. “Clearly Miss Anastasia Nádasdy succumbed to the wounds she sustained.”
All thoughts were tossed from my head as if a washbasin had been thrown out. I stared at Percy, blinking disbelief away. He couldn’t mean—My gaze traveled from my teacher to the corpse laid out before him. He tugged the shroud from her face. Little gears clicked and turned, hissing as this new information fitted into place. The young woman who’d been attacked in the tunnel chamber by vampire bats was Anastasia?
The earth seemed to rumble beneath my seat. Flames rose from my core, then turned icy. I blinked tears away, unable to prevent a few from sliding down my cheeks. I didn’t actually care if anyone in the class mocked my show of emotion. I stared unseeing at the body, trying to force the image to make sense. Anastasia. It couldn’t be. I sat there, heart thudding dully, looking at the lifeless form. I took in the blond hair but couldn’t bear to inspect her decaying face too closely.
My friend was dead. This could not be happening again. My chest felt as if it were caving in from the weight now pressing on it. How could I have thought her guilty of the murders? When did I become so untrusting? I longed to run from the room and never study another body for as long as I lived. Thomas wasn’t the cursed one, I was. Every person I grew close to died. Nicolae had said as much in the alleyway. He was correct.
Through tears, I glanced at our classmates. All were stricken. Gone were the fiercely competitive students, thirsting for knowledge and battling for those two precious spots in the academy. Science needed coldness for exploratory advancements, but we were still human. Our minds might be made of steel when needed, but our hearts beat with compassion. We still cared deeply for people and mourned.
Thomas swiveled in his seat, attention landing on Nicolae and then on me. My friend appeared rattled but was focused enough to seek out suspicious behavior. I’d almost forgotten about the prince’s illustrations and what part they might have played in all this. Andrei clamped his jaws together, tossing a murderous glare at his friend, though his throat bobbed with tears he was obviously holding back. How very peculiar.
“The bite marks are consistent with those of small mammals,” Percy said quietly. “Does anyone want to hazard a guess as to what might have attacked this young woman?”
I held my breath along with the rest of the surgical theater. Neither Thomas nor I dared to respond—or even glance at each other—though we had seen exactly how Anastasia had died. The question was, who else in this classroom would know? If anyone else was collaborating with Ileana, they’d be privy to the source of death.
Percy trailed his gaze over each student, waiting for someone to break the heavy silence.
“Snakes?” Vincenzo and Giovanni finally asked in unison.
“Venomous spiders?” Cian added.
“Good guesses, but no,” Percy said, his expression becoming less hopeful. “Does anyone else wish to share an idea?”
Nicolae barely glanced at the body, attention fixed on the carbolic steam spray still in his hands. He rolled it from side to side, then pressed the release button, startling us all with a burst of antiseptic spray. Its mist was as foreboding as the tone he used.
