It was our headmaster. Silence smothered the room, sudden and complete.
Headmaster Claude Fournier rarely made an appearance in the classroom. This was unprecedented. Unheard of.
He didn’t bother with niceties; he just dug right in. “A girl has been discovered,” he said, only a hint of his French accent detectable. “Just beyond the cove. A dead girl.” His tone was flat, but his quiet delivery told me just how furious he was. “Somebody killed her, anonymously and without permission. Someone on this island bled her dry.”
I’d thought it was already silent—until we all held our breath. This was shocking news. Nobody on this island acted—or killed—without it being somehow sanctioned by the vampires in charge.
Killing without permission. Did that mean someone had actually granted permission for Amanda’s death? I shuddered.
Sure, deaths happened all the time. In a combat ring. During hazing. At the hand of a bored vampire merely wanting to teach a lesson. But random, anonymous slaughter? There was no such thing.
Most of all, there were no abandoned bodies. Every corpse was repurposed for some other grisly means. Nobody killed and left the body to rot.
Nobody crossed the Directorate.
For Headmaster to stoop to a classroom visit meant this death had upset them. It meant this was a mystery.
And then an even more frightening question popped into my head: Why had he come to this class? Was he visiting all the classes? Why not just hold a general assembly?
The hairs on the back of my neck prickled. I didn’t want to be in their sights, not even in their line of vision, considering my bond with Carden.
Headmaster Fournier scanned the room with his shuttered gaze. “The question is, who among us would want to see Guidon Trinity dead?” He pinned that icy stare on me.
My nerves became nausea.
CHAPTER TWO
There was a burst of sound as people turned in their seats. All eyes landed on me.
I slid down in my chair, trying to hide. Because I knew who’d want Trinity dead. So did everyone else.
The list was easy:
Emma, who’d suffered much at the hands of the redheaded Guidon.
By extension, Yasuo, her boyfriend. Duh.
And Three?
Number Three was the ringer.
Number Three was the only one who would’ve been capable of seeing such a thing through.
Number Three was the only person who’d want Trinity dead and who also happened to come equipped with a new vampire buddy who operated just enough outside the official Eyja næturinnar ecosystem to do something like feed on an Initiate.
Number Three was me.
Headmaster Fournier asked who wanted Guidon Trinity dead, and the answer was: I did. I’d fantasized about the many ways in which I’d obliterate both her and Masha pretty much every day since day one.
Headmaster glided to the doorway. When he spoke again, it seemed his gaze was trained on everyone but me. “Keep your eyes open, Acari, Trainees. The student who discovers and reports the identity of the culprit will know great honor.”
The moment he left, Acari Loren turned to me. She was one of the many girls who’d dance a jig if I were to come to a gruesome ending. “You knew Trinity, didn’t you, Drew? Didn’t you hate Trinity?” Her tone was saccharine sweet.
When I’d left on my mission, I’d been public enemy number one in everyone’s sights. But that I returned with a new—and let’s be honest—super-stud vampire? I was now under a microscope.
If anyone discovered that Carden and I shared a bond and turned us in, it would garner them major brownie points. My sure and subsequent death would just be icing on the cake.
Yas whispered under his breath, “Bitch.” His bemused, marveling tone was like armor for me.