Page 55 of The Book of Blood and Roses

“Garlic?” Elia draws the word out.

Aliz, in turn, doesn’t say anything, she simply stares down at the floor. At a semester’s worth of garlic supplements.

It’s over.

They’ve figured it out.

“Why would you bring garlic into a university full of vampires, Cassie Smith?” Elia asks.How is she still breathing?The look in Aliz’s eyes doesn’t go beyond confusion, but I know it will shift, any second now, to an accusation. And then what?

“To hide the scent of my blood.” The truth slips from me like a silver dagger, falling from my sleeve before a kill. My words catch them both off guard, and Aliz’s shock seems exacerbated.

Elia takes a step towards me, lowering her voice. “And why must you hide your scent?” she asks, close enough that I can smell the rosewater in her hair.

I swallow, taking a step back, hitting the desk. “It has a strong fragrance.” The kind that will drive a vampire mad with thirst. “Type-S,” I say.

Elia picks up the half empty jar from the floor, and I wring my hands together, heart pounding in my chest. They can both feel it. I can’t lie to them. Elia touches my chin, and I tense. “What does your blood type have to do with you keeping poison in a room you share with a vampire?” she asks, her crystal-blue eyes turning a shade darker, leaning towards crimson.

“Back off,” Aliz snaps, her voice sharper than I’ve ever heard before. “She’s telling the truth,” Aliz says, and then meets my gaze. “You’ve been taking these pills, right?”

“I have.” Pins and needles run up my legs as I think of what else I can say, without revealing the truth. Because God knows what they’lldo to me if they find out I’m a hunter. “I can get my blood tested if you don’t believe me. I wasn’t planning on poisoning you.”

“I believe you. But you should pick these up,” Aliz says, her voice cautious. “And you might need to dust them off a little before taking them.”

I stare at Elia, still alive.

“What are you doing here?” Aliz finally asks Elia, as I get down on my knees between them, picking up the scattered pills.

“Just wanted to remind you of our date,” Elia says.

“You could have texted,” Aliz says, uncomfortable. I ignore the jealousy clouding my thoughts. Somehow this new emotion makes the mark’s symptoms worse, as though I can feel each individual line, all the way from my neck down to my waist. I bite my lip as I try to stop myself from scratching atit.

“Pick me up tonight,” Elia says, and just like that, she’s gone. But she clearly wasn’t here to see Aliz.

She was here to seeme.And only now that it’s over do I see how deliberate that was. Taking poison just to show me she’s immune. Does she know I’m a hunter? I glance at my side of the room. Nothing aside from my garlic supplements is out of place. But if she knows I’m a hunter, why hasn’t she told Aliz?

“Don’t worry, I’ll have Faust change the lock.” Just as I start scratching my neck, Aliz crouches down next to me. She presses her hand to my skin, the itch vanishing. “I’d help you clean up, but, uh, I think I should be careful.”

“Definitely.”

“Do you really have Type-S blood?” she asks.

“I do,” I say. Aliz’s hand remains against my skin, but she doesn’t hide her hurt expression now that Elia is gone. Last night she said she was glad I didn’t have a strong scent, and I didn’t correct her. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” I say, the words awkward on my tongue. “I know I should have.”

“I assumed you trusted me,” she says, not looking me in the eye. She draws her hand away from my neck. “But I get it. I’m a vampire.”

“My blood’s caused me problems in the past,” I say. “Do youremember—” My voice trembles.This is a bad idea,I think, but I better prepare her. “Do you remember asking about my perfume?”

Aliz blinks, frowning. “Perfume?”

Of course she doesn’t. Aliz hasn’t obsessed over every conversation we’ve ever had the way I have. “The day I arrived,” I whisper. “You said the room smelled nice.”

Her lips part. Her gaze searches mine. “That was your blood?” she asks.

“That’s what you initially thought, wasn’t it?”

Aliz lifts my wrist to her nose, just as she did last night. “You don’t smell like garlic.”

“I know. The pills don’t have a scent.”