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“Actually, that’s not entirely correct,” Aven mused, deliberately drawing out his words. “I needed you to get me through the doorway, that much is true. Did you really think Marselle could have helped me? I would have found a way to Claim him long ago if that were the case, regardless of how protected the Library keeps him. No, Alexandra, he doesn’thave the access you do, which is why he won’t be opening another doorway to save you. It’s also why only you could assist me in the end. But you proved to be much more tenacious than I’d ever expected of a human.”

“What can I say?” she managed to croak out. “It’s a gift.”

“The literal implication isn’t lost on me,” Aven said, his demeanour souring before he brightened again. “But no matter. I only had to find your weakness. It was really too easy; all I had to do was capture someone dear to you.”

Alex’s eyes flickered over to Jordan who stood silently between Aven and Calista.

“I don’t mean Jordan,” Aven said, seeing where her gaze rested. “I’m speaking of your beloved headmaster. And my deceit was twofold, since you had the added concern that he would grant me access where you resisted. It was perfect, really.”

“Roka will stop you,” Alex told him confidently. “Zain has probably already warned him that you’re here. They’ll be arriving any moment.”

Aven laughed deeply. “Zain? That poor excuse for an elite guard is half-dead right where I left him with my arrow sticking out of his shoulder blade. No, Zain won’t be warning anyone.”

Alex felt her stomach clench with fear for her friend but she refused to believe Aven. “You’re lying. An arrow to the shoulder would never kill a Meyarin—least of all Zain. It would take way more than that.”

“I love that you still have such naive optimism,” Aven said with dark amusement. “I almost feel guilty about bursting that little bubble of yours.”

She fisted her hands to hide their trembling. “Then don’t.”

“Denial isn’t a healthy state of mind, so I’ll tell you a secret,” he said. “There’s a creature, Alexandra, whose blood is so repulsive to Meyarins that it can incapacitate us at the briefest of physical contact. Among my kind, it’s called the Sarnaph.Your race titles itDaesmilo Folarctos, but it’s more commonly known as a Hyroa. Have you heard of it?”

Pictures flooded Alex’s mind. She saw the day so many months ago when she’d witnessed Aven slay the terrifying, violent beast. She saw the Meyarin urgently checking his clothes and backing away when Gerald tried to hand him the vial of blood. She heard Fletcher comment on how the species was considered nearly extinct. And lastly, she heard the nameDaesmilo Folarctosreverberate around her thoughts as she remembered the severe ‘allergic reaction’ she’d had after touching the murky-brown swab of what she now realised was Hyroa blood.

Aven had no way of knowing that there was Meyarin blood in her veins that apparently reacted just as negatively to the Hyroa blood as his own would. That was one secret she would do well to keep from him.

“Whatever you’re about to say, I won’t believe you,” Alex told him boldly. “I don’t care about incapacitating blood or whatever, because I saw Zain only a few minutes ago. You wouldn’t have had time to attack him and then follow us through the Library.”

Aven smirked at her. “Are you sure it was Zain you saw?”

“Of course it was…” Alex closed her eyes when she realised just how well Aven had played them. “Skyla.”

“Yes, Skyla,” Aven confirmed. “Your friend has an impressive gift. If she wasn’t so simpleminded, I might have considered adding her to my collection.”

Alex quaked at his words, but he continued before she could say anything.

“Even without Claiming her, it wasn’t difficult to convince her to assist us, but she was a painfully slow student. We had to meet with her a number of times so she could learn her script, so to speak. Such a foolish child. But we managed to make her believe she was important enough for your Stealth andSubterfuge teacher to consider taking her on as an apprentice next year. She was under the impression that today’s events were a test to see how well she could remain in character as both Jordan and Zain.”

“Why are you telling me all this?” Alex asked, her heart racing at the rapidly darkening tone of Aven’s words.

“I thought you might appreciate the truth before you could no longer hear it from the source,” he said offhandedly. “The girl performed admirably, but she wasted too much of my time learning her role. And I… Well, my patience with her has reached its limit. Calista?”

It happened in a split second. Alex didn’t notice the command in Aven’s words. All she heard was a whimper and acrack, followed by the sound of Skyla’s lifeless body dropping to the ground.

“No!” Alex gasped, seeing Skyla’s face pressed into the snow, her neck bent at an unnatural angle and her empty eyes staring out into nothing.

All it had taken was one word from Aven and Calista had broken Skyla’s neck without lifting so much as a finger.

Alex glanced fearfully up at D.C. and Bear who were still trapped by Calista’s power. Tears were streaming down D.C.’s face as she stared at the girl on the icy ground, and Bear looked more haggard than Alex had ever seen him.

“Don’t you want to know how I managed to pull all this off?” Aven asked. “Even I, as brilliant as I am, couldn’t have fooled you without help. Aren’t you curious about Jordan’s role in all this?”

No, Alex begged him in her mind, already knowing that whatever he was going to say would bring him great joy and her great pain.

Please.

Don’t.

But Aven couldn’t hear her thoughts, and he continued, almost gleefully, “Aren’t you curious about how long your friend has been in my service?”