Blood Pledged (Arcane Arts Academy #3) - Elena Lawson Page 0,64

cover my mouth.

“Calm. I need you to stay calm.” He forced me to look into his eyes as he spoke, forcing the words out with so much restraint. A muscle in his temple twitched and his voice came out rasping.

The force of his compulsion soothed me, and I felt my muscles relaxing. My racing heart quieted in my chest, stopped pounding in my ears.

“Heal yourself,” he ordered, and I did as I was told. My magic came easily to my fingertips, drawing the glowing yellowish sigil that would heal me. I pressed it into the wound, and the skin knit itself back together, but there was still blood all over my hand from when I’d tried to staunch the flow.

His compulsion lifted from me the moment I broke eye contact and I wanted to scream, to lash out at him, but I didn’t. He was so close, and I was afraid. I was powerful, but he could control my mind. And he was stronger. So, so much stronger.

“Please,” he said, the hunger in his gaze never dissipating. His smoke and rose cologne enveloped me and I felt drawn into him. “Please, don’t be afraid.”

It wasn’t a command infused with compulsion, it was a request, a plea, and he was waiting for a response.

“You won’t—” I swallowed. “You won’t hurt me?”

He shook his head and, grimacing, reached down for my blood covered hand. As though trying to prove himself, he bent all the fingers on my hand down save for my pinkie finger, getting my blood all over his own hands in the process.

My body heated and my toes curled as he plunged my little finger into his mouth, between his fangs, and licked it clean of blood, moaning as he did it.

An intense heat pooled between my thighs and my lips parted. Why was this so hot?

Draven placed my hand back down into my lap with slow, practiced movements, his point proven.

So, he could control himself.

“I didn’t hurt those girls,” he said, rising and extending a hand for me to rise, too. I took his hand and he pulled me up, pulled me close. “I came here to tell you what I saw. Not what I did.”

“You saw something?” I asked incredulously. “What did you see? Was it an animal?”

Draven solemnly shook his head. “I’m afraid not.”

“Then what?”

“When I came to see you, the girl was already dead. I smelled her blood when I came to find you and, call me an idiot, I followed the smell into the academy.”

Into the academy?

He took both my hands and pulled me down to sit. “You weren’t in your room and the window was latched, so I went to the shed, hoping to find you there. I found the body just outside their home and followed the trail to your library. The blood itself had been cleaned up, but not well enough that I couldn’t smell the stain of it on the tile.”

My skin had turned to ice. The more he spoke, the more my hands shook in my lap, and I had to clench them together to keep them steady. I tried to find any trace of a lie in his eyes, or in his expression, but I found none.

He was telling the truth, and whether I wanted to admit it or not, I could sense that.

“Why didn’t you report the body when you found it?” I asked incredulously. That would’ve saved the three of us hours of questioning and accusations.

He lifted a dark eyebrow. “I’m not supposed to be here, remember?”

Oh, right. “So it’s not an animal, then?”

Draven dipped his head, shook it once, sharp. There was an apology in his eyes as he sighed, taking my hand between the two of his to squeeze it gently, trying to offer me a modicum of solace. It didn’t help, but it was nice to have something to hold onto.

“No, Harper. I’m afraid it’s not an animal. Not a what at all, but a who. The murderer is someone in this academy.”

I went to class the next day. After a revelation like the one Draven handed me last night, I had to. If only to see if I could find the murderer lurking behind someone’s eyes in the halls. I wanted to go to Granger with what Draven learned, but that wasn’t possible.

There was no way I’d have discovered the faint blood trail myself. And Draven wasn’t supposed to be here. If anyone—even Granger—knew he was here, there would be hell to pay