Page 84 of The Veil of Blood and Magic

Me.

They killed them because of me.

They deserved it, but I can’t help feeling guilty that they’d had to draw blades against their own kind.

“Balan and his crew stole from us,” Jagger answers.

“A bounty,” she says, pointing to me.

“Yes,” Zev answers.

Her brow pinches together, but there is amusement in her eyes. “That isn’t exactly unheard of around here,” she says. “You’ve stolen before. So has every drifter here.”

A muscle in Zev’s jaw flexes. “They took what is ours,” he says.

“And broke almost every code in the book with what they did to her,” Jagger adds.

A warm flush races over my skin, a sense of comfort washing over me at their defense. The feeling fades as Lugene turns those keen eyes on me, studying me.

“They touch you?”

I nod.

She hisses.

“And poisoned her.”

“Bastards.” She shakes her head, looking like she wants to spit on the necklaces. “Good of you to put an end to it,” she says. “I’ll give these back to the mountain for you.” She pockets the bloody necklaces, then flashes me a sympathetic look. “I can’t say the Collector will treat a succubus any better than they did.” Her eyes dart between the two males. “Unless you’re not taking her there now?”

They both glance at me.

Zev sighs, low and frustrated. “It’s complicated.”

“Uh huh,” she says before turning to me. “Since these two don’t have any sense of manners, I’ll introduce myself. I’m Lugene Kittelfurth, leader of the Drifter Academy for the past seventy-five years. And you are?”

“Livana,” I answer.

“That’s it?”

“That’s all there is to tell.” I haven’t been able to remember my surname since I was a youngling.

“I highly doubt that, girl,” she says, but there’s affection in her tone. “But fair enough.” She jerks her head to the side, where a bunch of drifters sit, growing louder in their conversation. “We all have secrets here.” She looks to Zev and Jagger. “Get the girl some food and mead, won’t you?”

Jagger laughs softly, rising from the table and stopping to plant a kiss on her forehead before heading off.

“I’m telling you it has to end at some point,” a female drifter at the connecting table says, drawing Lugene’s attention.

“I’m telling you it willneverend,” a male drifter snaps before chugging a stein of mead. “All your insufferable prattling won’t make a difference.”

The female slams her fist on the table. “It’s not just me and you know it. There are hundreds of us in this academy alone who believe it. Who knows how many are out there until we go andlook.”

“Corshna,” Lugene whispers to me, reading my confused look. “She’s a passionate one. Wants to make a change.”

“You make waves, be prepared to drown,” the male says.

Lugene leans closer to me over the table. “Dornite,” she says. “A realist who fears change.”

“Better to drown than continue on as we are. You’ve read the histories as much as I. At least when the continent was ruled by the Four Families of Old, there were choices. Votes and discussions andchoices.And they didn’t use us to ensnare or kill innocent creatures. There weren’t so many restrictions. If we stay this course, it won’t just be our culture that dies. It will be any culture beyond what the Collector deems respectful.”

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