Page 30 of Taste of Thorns (The Firestone Academy #3)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

F ox

I’m waiting for her at the edge of the forest for our usual lesson, but when I catch a drift of her scent and my eyes lock her way, I understand that something is wrong. She’s marching towards me with a frown on her face and determination in her stride.

I square my shoulders in readiness for whatever attack she’s planning to fling my way.

“It was Bardin, wasn’t it?”

I search her face but nothing more is forthcoming, so I grab a hold of her arm and drag her into the cloak of the forest.

“Care to elaborate on that question, Miss Storm?”

“Madame Bardin was the one who turned you. She was the one who turned you into a vampire.”

I stare at her, sure my eyes are piercing in the darkness.

I hesitate and then, because I can’t deny this girl anything, not even the truth of my shame, I nod.

I wait for the disgust. The accusations.

“This isn’t …” But I trail off.

Her face softens. The anger burning in her eyes morphs into something more fragile – hope.

“Fox,” she says, breathlessly, grasping my arm eagerly, “is my sister still alive?”

“Alive? Briony, weren’t you there when they buried her?”

“Yes, but we never opened the coffin. I never saw her … Maybe she was never in there. Maybe she never died. Maybe Bardin turned her, just like she turned you. Just like she turned Esme Jones.”

“Esme Jones?” I mumble.

She nods. “She ‘died’ in the last trial – supposedly,” she says, making little quotation marks with her fingers. “But she was really bright, well-liked, and she was also the Madame’s latest protégé. Just like my sister. Just like you.”

The hope radiates through her body. It may be fragile, it’s also beautiful, and I want with all my cold heart not to kill it. But kill it I must. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope is the thing that will destroy you in the end. Especially when it is unwarranted.

“I was never the Madame’s protégé, Briony.” I grip her shoulders tightly, the truth hard to admit. “We were more than that. You know we were.”

“Yes, and so she made you one of them. Maybe that’s what she’s been doing all along. Picking out talented students from the commoner Quarters and turning them into vampires. That’s why my sister could never come home – that’s why you’ve never been home.”

“I’ve never been home because I’m too ashamed of what I’ve become,” I say.

But the hope has swamped her senses. She so desperately wants to believe her sister is still out there, still alive, even if only in vampiric form. Has she been harboring this hope all along and I just never saw it?

“Briony,” I say sternly, “your sister could shadow weave. There was no need for the Madame to turn her. And you know how much your sister loved you. She wouldn’t have gone to Onyx without you.”

“But…”

I shake my head. “I’m the only one the Madame has ever turned.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because she told me.”

“She could have been lying.”

“She wasn’t, Briony. Not about this.” I sigh and turn away from her, strolling towards a tree and leaning against it, the bark rough against my palm. “I was special.”

“But why?” she says. “Why were you special? Why did she turn you?”

“I don’t know,” I say.

It’s a question I’ve asked myself numerous times. I used to believe it was for love. That she wanted us to be together for eternity.

I’m not that na?ve anymore. There must have been another reason for it – there always is with Veronica – but I no longer understand what that reason was.

Briony searches my face for lies, clinging on to her hope as best she can.

“I’m sorry, Briony. But your sister is dead.” The hope withers in Briony’s green eyes and her gaze falls to the forest floor. For a moment, she’s silent, staring blankly, her breath hanging in a cloud in front of her face as she inhales and exhales.

Finally, she tips back her head and peers across at me, a wrinkle marking the skin between her brows and anger flashing in her eyes now.

“Fox,” she says, “you once told me that you don’t feed on humans anymore, but that once you did. How about Bardin? Does she feed on humans?”

“I have as little to do with the woman as I can these days.”

“Fox!”

“Yes,” I say, disgust filling my voice, “I believe she does.”

“And was it Bardin who killed my sister?!” she demands, as the wings of the dragon crack in the air behind me.

I spin and see the creature soaring towards me, fire shooting from its mouth.

“Briony!” I yell as the dragon swoops over our heads and then lands in the snow by her side.

“Fox!” she snaps, ignoring the dragon, “Was it Bardin that killed my sister? Did she kill Esme Jones as well? Has she been killing all the students that die in the academy?”

“I don’t know,” I mumble.

“Well, I’m going to find out. For once and for all, Fox, I’m going to find the truth.”

The next thing I know, she’s spinning on her toes and marching away through the forest, the dragon flapping along beside her.

“Briony, wait! Where are you going?”

“To confront Madame Bardin of course, where else?”

“Confront, Bardin,” I mumble, “are you out of your mind?”

“You confront her all the time.”

“I’m a vampire, Briony. I can match her strength for strength. You’re a human girl.”

“Who can wield light.”

“Who’s only just discovering and growing her powers.”

“Then come with me, Fox,” she says impatiently. “Help me confront her – or would that be too awkward,” she says with a hint of jealousy, “seeing as she’s your ex?”

“If you want, I will. I don’t give a shit about it being awkward. She knows how I feel about you, despite my best efforts to keep it hidden.” I squeeze my eyes shut. “But then what? We confront her. She denies it. We’re no further forward.”

“You torture her, like she tortured me,” she sneers through gritted teeth, “you squeeze the truth out of her.”

“Gladly,” I say, “if that’s what you want.”

“I’d have the truth.”

“And what will you do with the truth?”

“I don’t understand–”

“When you have your answers, will you simply let Bardin go – knowing you’ve created an even greater enemy for yourself? Or perhaps you’ll kill her – avenge your sister?”

Briony drops her gaze to the snow, her footprints creating a line in the snow between us.

“I’d want her properly punished for her crimes,” she says finally. “I want justice for my sister. And for all the others she’s killed.”

“But she’d deny it. She’s a tricky individual, Briony. Clever, manipulative, cunning. She’d claim she was just saying all she did because we were hurting her. And then we’d be the ones in trouble.”

“Then what do you suggest, Fox?” she says, throwing up her arms in frustration, the dragon huffing out smoke through his nostrils. The creature is growing rapidly. In the few days I’ve known of his existence he’s grown from the size of a baby foal to the size of a small cow.

“I suggest we go and find the others and consider our options.”

“More talking. More thinking,” she mumbles, folding her arms over her chest.

“If you want her properly punished, we’re going to need evidence and we’re going to need to be clever.” I stride towards her, laying my hands on her shoulders. She stares up into my face. “She could turn the tables on us, Briony. We could be the ones who end up in trouble.”

“We haven’t done anything wrong,” she huffs.

“We’re from Slate. You know how that works. You know what that means.” I lean closer to her, resting my forehead against hers.

“But you’re a professor now. Surely, that means–”

“I’m still from Slate, Briony. My word against hers: who do you think wins out?”

“She’s a vampire,” she spits out.

“So am I.” She turns her head, looking away from me. “And I’m sleeping with you. If that gets out …”

Her head flips back around and her green eyes meet mine.

“Was she your teacher? Is that how it started?”

“Yes,” I whisper.

“And were you sleeping with her when you were a student and she was a teacher?”

“Yes,” now it’s my turn to look away, no longer able to meet her gaze, “and I swore I’d never be like her.”

“This is different, isn’t it?” she says.

“Yes,” I say, “fate has brought us together. Fate has destined us to be together.” I swallow. “But that’s what she told me too, Briony. That’s what she had me believe.”

“Fox,” she says, “Fox, look at me.” I force my head around. “Are you lying to me? About any of this? Any of this at all?”

I stare right into the depths of her eyes, even though it’s difficult, even though the temptation is to look away. “No.”

She nods. “She took advantage of you,” I go to argue, but she raises her hand to silence me, “I know that’s hard for you to hear, but it’s the truth. She took advantage of you and she killed my sister. She killed them all and she needs to be stopped.”