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B EFORE YOU MEET YOUR HOUSE DRANAIC, YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND exactly what you’re fighting for.” Dean Faris sipped her tea.

They sat in the grand Faris House, inside the belly of a whale. A cool breeze from the open balcony made her shiver.

Kidan’s tea had gone cold in her hands. “I’m here to inherit the house.”

“Yes, but what exactly is a house?”

Her brows knitted. “What do you mean?”

“Houses are power. Not in the metaphorical sense but in a true sense.” The dean paused a moment, letting the words sink in. “For instance, why don’t you try to drop that teacup.”

Kidan peered down, then back at the woman. Maybe living with these creatures had pushed the dean over the edge.

“Rest the teacup on the table,” she instructed.

Kidan did. But when she loosened her grip, the teacup came with her. She tried again, harder, the force making a sharp clink . Her fingers remained wrapped around the handle. Kidan shot to her feet and swung her hand wildly. The cup didn’t fly into the wall.

“Did you glue this to my hand?” Kidan demanded.

Dean Faris raised a brow. “Please, sit and I’ll explain.”

Nerves on high alert, Kidan sat slowly.

The dean slid a panel in the middle of the table to reveal written words.

No teacup should be set down in this house.

“Houses abide by a singular law. A law given to them by their owners.” The dean’s voice was calm, rehearsed. “This is one I thought of specifically for this exercise, of course.”

Kidan blinked. And blinked again. She pushed her chair back and marched to the kitchen. First, she tried to peel the cup from her skin by using the counter’s edge as leverage. When that didn’t work, she found a spoon and tried to screw it between the cup and her palm. That only made her shout a string of curses when the spoon sprang up and struck her eyebrow. She opened the tap and submerged her hand in water, but that only made the porcelain slippery and drenched her sweater.

“When you’re quite done, we can continue,” the dean’s voice called from the dining area.

Kidan shut off the tap and leaned over the sink, breathing unevenly. Impossible. No fucking way.

Kidan walked back, wet and frightened. “Get it off me.”

“Certainly.” Dean Faris rested her own teacup. At once, Kidan’s cup came unstuck and fell. On instinct, Kidan caught it. She stared, jaw slacked, and traced its smooth surface and etchings. Nothing extraordinary about it—and yet it’d shifted the very gravity of her world.

“How?”

“After years of mastery, houses become an extension of their owners. They’re very complicated creatures.”

The power of houses…

Kidan took her seat again, eyeing her cup as if it might break into song.

“Are we calm?” the dean asked.

Kidan managed a nod.

“Good. Now, listen carefully to what I’m about to tell you. For hundreds of years, humans were hunted and tortured by vampires. We were utterly powerless against them. The only ones who could stand against them were the gifted Sages, but they were all brought to extinction.” Dean Faris’s brows drew together for a moment. “However, before the Last Sage died, he created the Three Binds.”

Kidan knew about those powerful binds. She’d recited them enough times to June after her nightmares, holding her sweat-drenched body close. Her favorite was the Third Bind. It ensured that the population of vampires never grew too much.

“The Last Sage also gave us power over our own houses. Each acti, which refers to the members of the Eighty Families, has the potential to become a house owner. In the past, each house could set its own, unique law. As you can imagine, that led to many conflicts between families.”

“Laws… like countries,” Kidan echoed, her mind still foggy.

“Exactly. Every man and house for himself. When the peace between vampires and humans was forged, vampires were invited to live alongside us, inside our homes as our companions. It changed everything.”

Kidan’s mouth soured at the words “peace” and “vampire” in the same sentence. They were inherent opposites, and one couldn’t exist while the other lived.

Dean Faris continued.

“Uxlay is unique, because we choose to act as one community. Twelve heirs and heiresses came together to practice the same exact universal law in every household. One law that protects us from the outside world.”

The fog drained away, leaving red in Kidan’s vision. Such power wasted on protection from the outside world? What use was that when the problem was inside these walls?

“Follow me.” Dean Faris pushed her chair back and exited out the balcony.

Kidan joined her, bracing against the high winds. The entirety of Uxlay stretched before them. A set of sprawling houses—close to mansions, really—surrounded the campus like a belt.

“If you’ve noticed, each house’s land shares a border with the one next to it, all the way around. Some houses even host a cemetery and a sports field on their expansive land without breaking the circle. The design of it is purposeful, so the universal law continues uninterrupted.”

“What exactly is this law?”

“No unauthorized person—human or vampire—can enter or even find Uxlay.”

Kidan’s hands tightened on the rail. It now made sense why she could never track this university down. The months spent in her apartment, driving herself insane with the reality of knowing a place existed yet being unable to prove it—it’d been cruel. She studied the dean’s features, the lines in the corners of her brown eyes that betrayed her age—yet nothing was soft about her stance.

Kidan frowned. “But this house doesn’t border the others.”

Dean Faris nodded. “As Founders, House Adane and House Faris are the only ones that can set their own law. As such, the roles and responsibilities of being dean of Uxlay have fallen to us.”

Kidan nearly swayed. Her ancestors founded Uxlay? They’d been deans? And more importantly, House Adane could set their own law. She couldn’t imagine the power of such a thing. The shock of this new discovery turned into an exciting possibility. A weapon. Finally, a good weapon against them.

Kidan’s eyes shone. “You’re telling me I can set any law in Adane House? Just like your tea one?”

Dean Faris’s words were careful. “Setting and changing a house law is an incredibly difficult art. One you’ll begin to learn next year, if you’re still with us. But even then, you won’t be ready for some years.”

Years…

Kidan’s eyes went to the teacup inside. Could it really be that hard?

The dean pointed to a dark shape directly across from them. “Adane House. Only our houses lie inside the boundary, Kidan. It is a great responsibility granted to us, a power we cannot abuse. If Susenyos Sagad inherits Adane House and misuses that power, it will collapse Uxlay.”

A bitter smile twisted Kidan’s lips. “If you’re so worried about him setting his own law, why won’t you believe he took my sister?”

Dean Faris spoke slowly, repeating the same frustrating question. “What proof is there that he took your sister?”

Kidan opened her mouth and shut it. Her ears echoed with her victim’s confession.

Susenyos Sagad!… He… he took her!

Her tongue soured. Kidan’s proof couldn’t be used. Not yet.

“House laws can only be changed by their true owners. You can see why the responsibilities of heirs and heiresses at Uxlay are important. You are all key to maintaining Uxlay’s community and keeping our people safe.”

Kidan was beginning to understand. “And a given law only works inside one house, not outside? Right?”

Dean Faris lifted a fallen petal off the ledge and let the breeze carry it. “Yes. My house law only works on Faris land.”

Kidan stared at the boundary circle again with new eyes. Each of those houses shared borders so the law from one house extended to the next, creating a massive protective shield.

“What happens if one of the houses on the border decides to break the universal law?”

Kidan imagined it all as a dam, one good leak and the whole thing could collapse, exposing their existence to the outside world.

Dean Faris regarded her curiously. “Uxlay formed on the basis that it would exist as a safe and hidden community. Anyone that takes issue with that will be removed from our society. We will readjust to account for their loss.”

The tone of those words belonged to a general before an army.

Kidan’s forehead creased. “But what if the vampires rise against you inside here? Enslave—er, capture and force you to give them blood?”

Dean Faris didn’t seem offended by the line of questioning. “It is precisely that lifestyle of death and chaos the Last Sage ended when he proposed this new lifestyle of coexistence. Do you believe vampires are mindless agents of violence? They crave peace just like us. They choose to coexist alongside us, and have for generations. Anyone who doesn’t wish to can leave Uxlay, and they have.”

They crave peace just like us. Kidan wanted to laugh, but Dean Faris appeared to truly believe her words.

The dean returned inside and poured a stream of cinnamon tea.

“If Susenyos Sagad occupies that house alone for a consecutive set of twenty-eight days, he becomes the sole owner. If you start living with him, the will becomes suspended, giving you time to graduate and claim your house. Please, drink.”

Kidan took the warm teacup, a thrumming shooting up her arm. She immediately set it down to see if the law was still changed. It was. How did it all work?

“Or you could just arrest him.”

“I admire your bravery, Kidan, but your assumptions and judgments will make life here difficult for you. They are useful, to an extent. Be wary but never cold. Especially when Uxlay’s smaller groups and clubs begin to extend their invitations to you.”

Kidan crinkled her nose. “I’m not interested in any group.”

“But they will be interested in you.” The woman’s sharp eyes gleamed with warning. “Everyone wants to have a Founding House heiress as their friend. Tread carefully.”

“Sure… but do I have to attend class?”

Her features hardened. “Yes, you must attend, and failure is not an option. Any other acti can fail and try again next year with no risk to their inheritance. Not you. The sole reason you’re able to take shelter in your house is that you are studying our philosophy. If you fail, Susenyos has the right to force you out until the course resumes next year, and by then it will be too late.”

Kidan blew out a breath. Nodded.

“Before classes start, however, there’s something important you must do.” Dean Faris leaned forward, as if sharing a secret. “I want you to discover the law stated in your household. It will only reveal itself to potential inheritors of the house.”

There was already a… law in place.

Kidan’s gaze fell to her hands. “I’m guessing it’s not about tea.”

Dean Faris almost smiled. “No, I’m afraid not.”

“So where do I find the law? On a table like yours?”

A line appeared between the dean’s brows. Voice hesitant, she said, “The house is an echo of the mind. It presents itself differently to each potential inheritor. The best answer I can give you is, the law will be hidden in the room you least want to visit.”

Kidan blinked slowly. “I don’t understand.”

“You will once you’ve settled in.” She nodded. “Unlike setting or changing a house law, reading an existing law should be simple enough. I have complete faith you can manage it.”

The woman’s gaze settled on the rippling curtains. They fluttered and swayed with new wind, and she cocked her head as if listening.

“Come in,” Dean Faris said, though no one had knocked.

A man with braided hair and unnaturally straight posture entered the room.

“This is Professor Andreyas, my companion and your professor for Introduction to Dranacti,” the dean said.

Dranacti—the official name of the philosophy taught at Uxlay. The course she absolutely had to pass. Kidan didn’t extend her hand and neither did he. It struck her how well they fit into human skin. His unblinking eyes assessed her, and ice rushed down her back.

“A pleasure.” His voice curled like the tail of a scorpion. He leaned to whisper a few words to the dean.

Professor Andreyas’s sleeve hosted a golden pin—a black bird with a silver eye, just like Dean Faris had worn. The sigil of House Faris, Kidan had gathered.

“Good,” Dean Faris said. “We’ll visit Susenyos now. Come, Kidan. I’ll explain as we go.”

Kidan followed the two out. They made an odd but impressive sight side-by-side. One inhuman, steel skin, eternal. The other a Black woman, soft-fleshed and aging. Yet he walked in her steps, bent to her voice, and fit himself around her movements. A shadow to a sun.