“It is my top choice.” At least, it had been. The last couple of weeks had made decisions like this one seem irrelevant.

“So . . . are you excited?”

“Of course! Paris. Wow, I just can’t believe it. I guess I sort of pushed it to the back of my mind. You know, with everything else . . .” I couldn’t bring myself to finish the sentence.

“Of course, honey. I know it’s been a tough time. She was your friend, after all, and it was just so horrible, so random. It could have been any one of you. I just hope they catch that sick bastard.”

But they wouldn’t, of course. This was one murder that would remain unsolved.

“Anyway,” Patsy continued after a heavy sigh, “the lease isn’t up here until the end of September, so you’ve got plenty of time to pack up your stuff. And . . . I know Australia’s far away, but you can come visit us anytime you want. Seriously, Violet.”

I was glad for the change of subject. “I . . . yeah, of course. So . . . when are you getting married?”

“We haven’t decided yet, but it’ll be really low-key. Just City Hall or something.” In other words, I wasn’t invited. “Wait, can you hold on a sec, Violet? Actually, I better take this call. I’ll try you back later, okay?”

“Sure,” I answered.

“Thanks. Love you!” she chirped.

“Love you too,” I said, then ended the call. I set aside my cell, my thoughts spinning.

On the one hand, Patsy moving to Australia would make things so much easier. I’d be able to go to Paris and do whatever Mrs. Girard asked of me without any questions. There’d be no one around to check in with. No one to lie to.

But on the other hand, Patsy was the closest thing to a parent I had left, and Australia was far away— literally on the other side of the globe. I was going to miss her.

And then there was the news about my acceptance letter. I hurried over to my laptop, needing to see for myself. A few clicks later, and there it was—application status: accepted. I wondered if Aidan had remembered to check.

I started to reach out to him telepathically and then stopped myself. We’d barely spoken since that awful night in Atlanta. He probably thought I was still angry with him for refusing to turn Kate, but I wasn’t.

I was ashamed of the way I’d acted, horrified that I’d asked him to do something so terrible. At the time, I’d seen it only as a way to save Kate. To cheat death. I owed him an apology.

Aidan?

Silence. I stared at the clock, waiting for him to respond. A full minute passed. Then another.

Hi, he said at last. You settled in yet?

Yeah. Can we meet somewhere?

I’m in my room. Why don’t you just come here?

I hesitated. Are you sure? Won’t we get in trouble?

Honestly, Vi, I don’t think Mrs. Girard cares what we do anymore.

That was good enough for me. Okay, I’ll be right there.

I’ll leave the door unlocked.

When I stepped inside his room ten minutes later, Aidan was sitting at his desk, his golden head bent over a book. He turned toward me as I shut the door, a wary expression on his face. Behind me, I heard the lock click into place.

“Hey,” he said softly. “How are you doing?”

“Better than Jack,” I answered with a shrug. He was back at school, an empty shell of himself. He kept his distance from the rest of us, just going through the motions. But it was clear that his heart wasn’t in it, and who could blame him?

“I shouldn’t have told him about the vision,” I said. I’d saddled him with unnecessary guilt—with the knowledge that she’d sacrificed herself for him.

“You only told the truth.” Aidan closed his book but remained seated, studying me closely. I could feel the hurt radiating off him in waves.

Tentatively, I took a step toward him. “Aidan, I . . . There’s so much I have to say to you. I’m just . . . I’m going to take down the wall around my thoughts, okay? It’ll be easier.”

I saw his eyes widen a fraction. “Are you sure?”

I nodded, dropping the barrier.

His cool gaze met mine, his head tipped to one side in concentration. I could feel it now, the invasion of my mind, like invisible tentacles that poked and prodded. I forced myself to allow it, to concentrate on my remorse, my shame.

Aidan’s poker face was severely lacking—I could see his every reaction to my thoughts mirrored in his features.

“Okay?” I asked once I was convinced that he understood.

“It’s more than okay, Vi.” He rose, closing the distance between us.

I let out a sigh as he wrapped his arms around me, his lips pressed to my forehead.

“We’re good, then?”

He nodded. “We’re good. If you can forgive me for missing the funeral, that is.”

“I wasn’t surprised you took off, not after the way I treated you.”

“It wasn’t that, Vi. It was Mrs. Girard. She didn’t think it was safe, that’s all. She’s convinced that whoever that vampire was, she was after me. An assassin.”

“Because she knew about the whole Dauphin thing?”

“Probably. Our enemies know that Mrs. Girard is protecting me—they know something’s up. They’ve heard whispers about the Dauphin, and they want to remove the threat. Mrs. Girard is convinced this isn’t the end of it, that they’ll keep sending out scouts—individual assassins—even before there’s full-scale war.”

“But why assassins, if they know the Dauphin can’t be destroyed by one of their kind?”

“Apparently, that’s the one part of the legend that Mrs. Girard and Luc withheld from the rest of the Tribunal. That’s their trump card. Obviously, Dr. Blackwell figured it out, but they think that knowledge died with him and Julius and those two females.”

“So what do we do?”

“For now, we sit tight. Mrs. Girard has upped security—there’s a full force of guards around Winterhaven at all times now.”

I suppressed a shudder. “Vampire guards?”

He nodded. “They’re not a threat. Your bracelet is still glowing white, right?”

I glanced down, noting the now-familiar sight of the glowing moonstones. The bloodstone was totally unaffected. Whoever these vampires were, they were on our side. I let out a sigh of relief. “It’s white. We’re good.”

“Of course, if you ask me, this security force is sending our enemies a clear signal that they’re right—that I am being protected. That I’m a key player in Mrs. Girard’s scheme. That I am the Dauphin. But they didn’t ask me.”

“So you’re not allowed to leave campus anymore?”

“No. I’m on total lockdown here. That’s why I wasn’t at the funeral. But I should have been there for you. It must have been . . . awful.”

I inhaled sharply. “It was awful. I can’t even stand thinking about it. Can you just . . . I don’t know . . . help me forget? Just for a little while?”

“I can try.” He gathered me close, hugging me tightly. “Do you need to be somewhere, or can you stay?”

“I can stay. What’d you have in mind?” I teased, desperate to lighten the mood.

He released me then, peering down at me with one raised brow. “Oh, really now. Going there, are we?” he asked, laying the British accent on thick.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “You just sounded so much like an aristocrat. I feel like I should curtsy or something.”

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