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I hadn’t gone back to the alcove to listen to the music since. Each day, on the way back from training, I wandered near, wishing I was braver. Wrapping myself in the music made me feel so alive, so free. But now when I thought of being there, all I could picture was Titus and his threats. I studied in my room, my dagger never more than an arm’s distance away.

“Let’s take a break,” Iademos announced.

“I can keep going.”

I wanted to keep going. Wanted to stop being sogodsdamned weak.

“You say that every day,” he chided. It was true. “Your body needs rest as much as it needs exercise.”

Fine. I returned my training dagger to the rack, and we joined Amalthea for lunch. Today, it was a tray of sandwiches filled with things like cured meat, scrambled kobold eggs, vegetables, and a succulent spread. Demos, of course, didn’t partake. More pity him.

While we ate, Amalthea regaled us both with the latest court gossip. Unlike the solitary life I’d carved for myself, Amalthea spent her evenings around various members of vampire society, attending dinners, soirées, and, last night, gambling parties.

“I can’t believe they let you play,” Demos grumbled.

“Are you suggesting I cheat?” Amalthea retorted primly.

“That’s exactly what I’m suggesting,” he replied.

She slammed her plate down in indignation. “I’ll have you know, even if I didn’t cheat, I would win.”

“So… you do cheat?” I asked.

She shifted her ireful gaze towards me. “Not you too.”

“That’s not a denial,” Demos pointed out.

“Is it cheating when they listen to my heartbeat to try to figure out if I’m nervous? Or stay utterly still when a mortal would at least fidget? Of course not. So using my gifts isn’t cheating.”

Demos rolled his eyes. “Who did you fleece this time?”

“Lazarus. He had it coming.”

Lazarus. I remembered the name. The vampire from the ball, the one who mentioned the abomination. Thinkingof the ball made me think of Titus, and thinking of Titus made me remember his taunt—that I didn’t know enough about the Vampire Kingdom. That I let them treat me like a pet, never to be taken out. Goading words, but there was a grain of truth. I’d barely seen a fraction of the castle—what did I really know about Damerel? What did Iwantto know?

I wasn’t going to be here for long. I was getting close to finishing the first part of the grimoire.

And yet I could still hear Titus’s voice:You should learn more about your new owners, Samara Koisemi. See more of the mountain.

“I… I’d like to see more of the city,” I said, interrupting the current bickering between Demos and Amalthea.

Both turned to me, and I shrank, my shoulders curling in on reflex.

“What changed?” Amalthea asked. “You’ve declined every other invitation I’d given you.”

That was true. Because Amalthea’s invitations involved spending an evening in fine dresses that didn’t quite fit around vampire nobles, and I’d prefer an evening solving the mysteries of the Black Grimoire any day over that. “I didn’t say I wanted to talk to anyone. Just… see what it’s like.”

And just like that, Amalthea was won over. “You couldn’t have a better tour guide. Let’s get out of here.”

Demos grabbed the witch’s wrist as she sprang up. Unlike me, she didn’t stiffen at the contact, just glared back. “Not so fast. Do you really think Raphael wants her wandering around? She’s the king’s Chosen.”

“She’s the king’s Chosen, so if she wants to parade naked down Main Street, she damn well can,” Amalthea retorted. “You’ve been tutoring her for weeks. Do you have so little faith in your skills to think even if she was attacked,even ifwe weren’t glued to her side, she couldn’t fend off an attacker?”

Shewas quickly regretting her request. “Guys—”

“Fine,” Demos snapped, looking at me. “You can go. If you beat Amalthea in a sparring match. Thea, no going easy on Sam.”

“Fine. Sam, let’s do this.” She jerked out of his grip and marched over to the weapons rack and plucked up a random short sword.