Blood Pledged (Arcane Arts Academy #3) - Elena Lawson Page 0,65

for him and his queen. His entire race, if the Arcane Council had anything to say about it.

Trespassing here without permission and killing a student—because of course, they’d immediately blame him—would be seen as an act of war. One the council would be more than obliging to return.

Knowing they would use it to their advantage and get what they seemed to always want—to rid this world of the lesser races—made me absolutely furious. Bunch of archaic asshats. A world without Cal and Adrian wouldn’t be a place I wanted to live in.

There had to be other witches who felt the same way.

“Hey!” I turned at the sound of the voice, finding Marcus jogging to catch up with me in the hallway.

I looked behind him, thinking Bianca wouldn’t be far behind, but I didn’t see her in the thinning crowd milling through the halls between classes. Marcus was in our class for the new Magical Defense lesson, and it seemed some of the students had returned from hiding at home to see what it was all about.

Or perhaps their parents thought it prudent they learned in light of recent events. Even if the academy was now considered a dangerous place to be.

“Hey,” I replied. “Where’s Bianca?”

“That’s what I was going to ask you,” he said with a crooked grin. “Guess neither of us knows then. Does she do that a lot?”

Confused, I asked,” Do what?”

“Disappear,” he said simply by way of explanation.

In the late afternoon glow coming down from one of the skylights in the corridor, I could see just how handsome Marcus was. I had to give Bianca points for her taste. He was absolutely delicious. His skin was a flawless shade, like the darkest of rich clay with cool sapphire undertones. He had kind eyes, too. I understood why she was so attracted to him. Who wouldn’t be?

Shaking my head and focusing on his words again, I pursed my lips. “What do you mean?”

Seeing the confusion in my face, he slowed and tugged me into an alcove off the main hallway. He looked uncomfortable and swallowed hard, dropping my arm. “I’m worried about her.”

Crap. I thought she was feeling better since Lacey. She didn’t seem upset all that much this past week. “But she was doing better. She only knew Lacey through her unc—”

He shook his head. “No, it’s not that. She told me she’s losing time. Hasn’t she told you? I thought you guys were, like, best friends.”

I winced at the accusation in his words. It was like he’d jabbed a knife into my heart and was twisting the handle. “No,” I breathed. “She didn’t tell me.”

Now it was his turn to look uncomfortable. “Shit. Was I not supposed to say anything?”

The question was more for himself, and I didn’t answer. I was too busy thinking of that time a few weeks ago when she said she couldn’t remember why she was over in the faculty wing. The day Marcus had seen her, but she couldn’t remember seeing him.

Oh! I gasped. And when she came home from visiting her brothers last weekend and I asked her how she was feeling. She had seemed confused then, too, hadn’t she?

Not to mention her zombie-like appearance that Friday after Lacey when I helped her upstairs and into bed.

“When you saw her that day in the faculty wing, did she seem pale? Sort of disconnected, like… like a…”

Marcus’ eyes widened, catching on to what I was saying. “Like a goddamn zombie.”

Oh my god. What was happening to her?

Had her uncle’s death been too much? Was it stress? She’d been obsessively straightening and arranging things for weeks. I’d just chalked it up to a bit of stress. Maybe some anxiety over the upcoming ACE exams, but not this.

How did I not see it?

How often was it happening? How much stress did a person have to be under to lose entire chunks of time?

“I’m the worst friend.”

I hadn’t realized I’d said the words aloud until Marcus put his hand on my shoulder and I huffed, looking up into his soft brown eyes. “You’re not. I don’t think she wanted you to know. It’s not your fault.”

But in some way or another, it seemed anything bad that happened around me was my fault. Couldn’t he see that? Couldn’t everyone?

“Why are you being so nice to me?”

Marcus didn’t play stupid. He knew exactly what I meant. Even now, as students passed us on their way to study, or to the newly minted Magical Defense class, they