Page 86 of Bleed the Shadows

Poe frowned. “‘Killed in the line of duty’?”

I didn’t blame him for the skepticism that laced his voice. This wasn’t a school for the kids of military members or public servants.

“Sangue oltre la famiglia,” Neo said. “Family beyond blood.”

What in the cult had I walked into?

I opened the scholarship folder and there he was — Ethan Todd — right at the front.

He was younger in the picture, a teenager with a mop of unruly brown hair staring into the camera like he was posing for a mug shot.

I caught my breath. “Found him.”

53

MAEVE

Everyone froze.

“Ethan?” Remy leaned over to look. “Fuck me. You’re right. It’s him.”

I searched Ethan’s eyes, looking for any sign of the monster he’d become, and didn’t find it.

It scared me. If we couldn’t count on signposts to future monsters, it meant anybody could become one.

I set aside the picture. I didn’t want to look at his face. Not until he was staring down the barrel of a gun — mine or the Butchers.

Behind the picture was a set of stats: age, height, areas of expertise.

My gaze snagged on that one. There were three things listed under Ethan’s areas of expertise: debate, oratory, and rhetoric.

“Rhetoric?” Poe said over my shoulder. I’d been too engrossed to realize he’d crossed the room to stand behind me. “How the fuck is rhetoric anarea of expertise?”

“It means an ability to persuade,” Remy explained. “Not just to speak, but to bring other people over to your way of thinking.”

Not exactly something that seemed like a valuable skill for the crime families behind Aventine, who relied on secrecy to keep their businesses alive.

There were details about Ethan’s history: parents killed in a small plane crash when he was three years old, no other family, raised by a foster mom in Blackwell Falls.

And then, at the bottom, something else.

Nominating alumnus: Dimitri Kaprolov.

“Who’s Dimitri Kaprolov?” I asked, still looking at the file.

“What does that have to do with anything?” The sharpness in Neo’s voice got my attention.

Up until that point, I wouldn’t have called him friendly, but now he sounded outright angry.

“He’s listed as the alumnus who nominated Ethan for the scholarship.”

Neo crossed the room and took the paper from my hands so fast I barely registered what happened.

“Careful,” Bram warned.

I was surprised to see the restrained anger on his face and even more surprised to realize it was directed at Neo for grabbing the piece of paper from my hands.

Like Bram was protecting me.