I felt disappointment well up. I had hoped for some answer, some direction. Instead, this seemed like a step back. How could I even perform a ritual to undo a soul-binding if I had no magic to guide it?

Just as I turned to leave, Professor Wispwood spoke again, her tone more measured. “There is one historical case that comes to mind regarding your earlier question about expelling a soul.”

My heart leaped. “Yes?”

“Centuries ago, a highblood forcibly bound his soul to a mortal mage. The mage, a skilled arcanist, found a way to separate their souls using a forbidden ritual. It worked, but at a heavy cost. The vampire’s soul was destroyed. The mortal survived, but her mind was shattered. She lived the rest of her days in madness.”

Professor Wispwood’s eyes met mine, sharp and knowing yet kindly. “Blood magic is not a path to walk lightly. We’re fortunate to have the four houses to guide us. A consultation with someone in House Drakharrow might be what you're looking for if you have any more questions on this subject. If you’d like a referral, there are some excellent students who might be willing to mentor you." She tapped a finger to her lips. “Of course, you wouldn’t be able to assist in their spellcasting based on what your assessment just showed, but there’s much you could learn from observation and I’m sure they could use an extra scribe.”

“Thank you. I’ll consider that, Professor Wispwood,” I said quietly, and left the room.

You’ve been awfully quiet considering everything, I said inside my head as I walked down the hall.

Orcades was silent for a moment. Well, I suppose it’s simply that I have no wish to steal my daughter’s life.

I froze.

Next came a feeling of overwhelming relief.

Some part of me had secretly been worried. My mother had been a powerful, near-immortal fae princess, after all. Even in death she had managed to somehow survive and weave our fates together. If she had wanted to take over my body, could she have done it?

You are my child, she continued. My love for you knows no bounds. I agree this situation does grow tedious. No child should be so constricted by a parent. Should I have found myself in your position, no doubt I would have chafed against it just as you do.

I felt a lump in my throat. So you do understand.

She sighed. I know you are not ungrateful, my dear one. I wish we could have gotten to know one another better under different circumstances. Ideally face to face. But I doubt that is ever to be. After this, I suspect I will leave this plane, once I am no longer bound in your vessel. In the end, perhaps that is for the best.

She spoke so calmly of the finality of her own demise.

But I didn’t want to lose her. Not completely.

There was a difference between not wanting to share my mind with my mother and not wanting her out of my life completely.

I’d be alone, without you, I said, reminding myself of a plaintive child.

You won’t be alone, she said with tenderness. Already you’ve made friends. You’ll thrive like a rose, even in this dark place. I could almost hear the smile in her voice. You’ll give these highbloods hell, I have no doubt.

A pause.

There is something I have been meaning to mention, she said.

My heart sped up. Yes?

I may have inadvertently already made some...changes.

Changes? Changes to what? I clenched my jaw. Changes to me?

“How dare you show your face in these halls, blightborn bitch?”

A pair of hands roughly shoved me against the wall. I fell against it with a cry, my shoulder colliding painfully with the stone.

“What the fuck?” I exclaimed, trying to turn my head.

There was a flourish of black as their robe whipped about them, some laughter, and then whoever it had been was gone.

The voice had been a girl’s. Not Regan’s. Quinn’s? Maybe.

I started to push myself up from the floor. I’d dropped my book bag and some of the textbooks had spilled out.

A strong, slender hand reached down and picked one of the books up.

I looked up. Blake stood there, a bored expression on his handsome face. He passed me the book but made no attempt to pick up the others.

Grimacing, I pushed myself to my feet and brushed my clothes off.

“Thanks,” I said curtly, grabbing the book and shoving it into my satchel.

“You have such a winning way about you, Pendragon,” he drawled. “No wonder you’ve made so many friends.”

I gave him a fake smile and started turning away.

His hand grabbed my shoulder. Just for a moment. Long enough for me to stop. Long enough for me to feel the heat of his skin through the fabric of my sweater.

“What?” I demanded. “You're going to shove me against a wall, too?”

“Been there, done that. Too easy,” he said, with a sneer.

He looked around us carefully. The hall had emptied out.

“I came to tell you,” he said, lowering his voice. “The fluffin is with the healer.”

The fluffin. I’d almost forgotten about the little thing.

“Good. That’s...good. Thank you for telling me.” I frowned. Had he sought me out just to tell me that?

“He’ll have the best treatment. The healers in our tower are the finest.”

“That’s good to know,” I said cautiously.

I was still shocked he’d complied, that he was doing this for me at all. Not to mention finding me just to update me on the pup’s condition the very next day.

“What will you do with him? Once he’s healed, I mean,” he said.

I stared at him. He looked at me, cool and nonchalant. Maybe trying a little too hard to look nonchalant. What was he up to?

“I don’t think Florence and I had thought that far ahead,” I said slowly. “Maybe we could try to return it...”

“No,” he said, cutting me off. “Its family will be gone by now. Besides, we have no idea how it got to the surface. It could have been running from a predator...”

“We? There’s no ‘we’ here,” I interrupted, my temper rising. “And we know how it got to the surface. It was running from a predator. From which it did not, in fact, escape. For all we know, your sister brought it above ground. Why can’t we bring it back down?”

He frowned. “Aenia?”

He glanced around again, but we were still alone. He shook his head. “She wouldn’t go below the surface. There’s a passage on the island but it’s been caved in for years.” He ran his hands through his hair. “Maybe the fluffin fit through a crack in the rocks somehow, but I doubt there’s any way she could have.” Still, he looked uncertain.

“What was she even doing on this island in the first place? Doesn’t she live in the Keep?”

He looked uncomfortable.

I shook my head in disbelief. “You don’t even know how she got here, do you? She’s a child. Is she just allowed to run around wherever she wants? Where’s her mother?”

As soon as I said those words I knew I shouldn’t have.

“That’s none of your concern,” he said coldly. “She’s my sister, not yours.”

“You’re right. If she was mine, I’d be taking better care of her,” I snapped. And making sure she didn’t feed on helpless animals, I thought, but I didn’t add that.

He gave me a cool look. “She’s a highblood,” he said, as if that was all that needed to be said.

Then he turned and walked away.

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CHAPTER 22 - MEDRA

I pushed at my mashed potatoes, my mind a million miles away from the refectory where I sat with Florence and Naveen.

“You’re sulking, Medra. What’s wrong?” Naveen teased. “Not enough butter on your mashed potatoes?”

I stuck out my tongue at him. “Oh, you know. Just thinking about how ignorant I am.”

“Ignorant?” Florence looked puzzled. “You’re not ignorant. You’re not stupid, Medra.”