Page 312 of A University of Betrayal

“What if it wasn’t an accident?” Larissa said, and Bayla nodded in thought.

“Some of these articles mention something about several families moving away,” Bay finally said.

“Just to escape this insecure situation and maybe join another Circle,” Julie murmured, fanning the steam away. She placed the large bowl of rice on the kitchen island before continuing. “I think they were afraid of the other species. Because that was just before the new official treaty, which now forbids the killing of other species for trespassing.”

I cleared my throat sharply. “May I remind you that you’re all violating those treaties right now?”

“I’m not part of the pack,” Julian said quickly, looking at me in a provocative way.

“And I’m not part of the Circle,” Bayla added, looking at Julian with a grin, as if there was a competition to see who could drop out the quickest.

They both knew that they were bound to join somewhere sooner or later. This wasn’t a game.

“I don’t even know anything about a treaty,” Larissa grumbled, putting her hands on her hips.

Miles crossed his arms and sighed impatiently, leaning against the table. “And I don’t give a damn about rules.”

What else did I expect?

“Who signed this contract?” Larissa asked and Julie answered from the kitchen.

“Representatives of the three species.”

Bayla didn’t seem to be satisfied with this answer. “Whoexactly?”

Miles cleared his throat beside me, reminding my tingling stomach that he was still here.

“More important, I think, is who set it up,” he said.

No one present could answer that question. Not evenIknew whose clever idea it had been to divide the species in such a way that they simply avoided each other and left people unharmed. What was certain was that this treaty was unique and prevented all kinds of bloody wars like the current one between the Ruisangor and the Senseque in Russia.

“Guys, look.”

Julian waved Larissa and Bayla over, who immediately hurried around the table, leaving me and Miles alone. It was as if I could feel him next to me without even having to know he was there.

“On November 4th, 1998, there was a fire at theBlairville Cemetery Mortuary,and nothing remained of the building or the body of Alice Blair.”

“Holy shit,”Larissa burst out. Bayla covered her mouth.

Julie had rushed to the table and snatched the newspaper out of Julian’s hand.

So, Alice Blair had really died twenty years ago…interesting.

“That doesn’t explain how she died.”

Everyone looked at Miles, who still had his arms crossed and his eyebrows furrowed in thought. I noticed he didn’t usually look like that, which was probably because he was always focused on destroying me with his scorn when I was around.

“Or what happened to Alaister,” Julie whispered barely audibly, and I couldn’t hold back any longer.

“What about the two of them?” I asked, irritated.

“They died on the same day,” Julian murmured.

“How...” I began, but Miles interrupted me again.

“We went to the cemetery. You’re welcome to go there too. It’s best to use the metal gate to the Quatura’s private crypt,” he said with a bitter undertone, running his fingers over his right hand.

“Wow,you seem to like her a lot,” Larissa laughed, and I finally lost track of what was going on here.