Page 38 of Monster's Reward

“Then I guess I’m in as well.”

The rush of hope that swept through me left me dizzy. “Really?”

He nodded. “Let’s go look at some more books.” He stood and held out his hand.

I stared at it a moment, then slowly set my hand in his, and allowed him to pull me to my feet.

We dumped our trays as we exited the cafeteria, and on our way out, I caught a glimpse of the head table.

Most of the professors had gone home for the holidays, but a few had stayed behind and they were staring at the two of us, concern written all over their faces.

“Did you see Professors Dewar and Sommerland staring at us?”

“Eh, that’s not quite so concerning as the look on the Headmistress’ face when she saw us sitting together. She turned right around and left again.”

“I didn’t see that. They’re going to forbid me from talking with you, I just know it.”

“Give me a break. They can’t keep us apart. We’re fated mates.”

My heart skipped a beat at hearing him acknowledge that, but I didn’t comment. Instead, I just said, “That’s not going to make a bit of difference considering they know what we are.”

“I’ve been thinking about that. You’re sure they know?”

“Of course, I am. They’ve been teaching me to control my shadow skills in private.” Not that I’d learned that much about the shadows from them. It had taken breaking into the archive room and finding my people’s secret library to do that.

“Let’s go to the basement,” I said, abruptly switching directions, leading him down the stairs. “I’ve already looked through every book I have upstairs. I need to search again.”

“You’re finally going to show me your secret room?”

“No. We’re going to the library to see what we can find out there.”

He rolled his eyes. “There’s nothing in the library, Kasi. There’s not a single reference to Shadow Monsters.”

“No, but now that we have an actual list of suspects, I’m thinking some normal research in the library, trying to get more information on them, is in order.” Depending on what we found there, I might just show him my shadow-room after, but I wasn’t ready to commit to that yet.

“Makes sense, I guess, but I have to say, it’s rather suspicious, don’t you think, that there’s literallynothingabout shadow monsters in the entire library? I mean, thisisan academic institution. They shouldn’t be censoring anything, no matter what their orders are. I’m also wondering why they didn’t just turn you in to the Varulvka Council from the very beginning.”

I whirled on him, glaring.

He raised his hands. “I’m not saying theyshouldhave. I’m just saying if they didn’t, they must know more than they’re saying.”

“Of course, they do! In fact, I’m quite sure they know a lot, but they’ve refused to share. Every time I’ve asked why my people were killed, they’ve told me the past is past and I should worry about the future. If you think I haven’t asked, about a million times, you’re crazy.” I started to push the library door open, then froze as Headmistress Blackthorn’s voice reached us.

“Are you absolutely positive there’s not a single reference to the shadow monsters anywhere in this library?”

“Headmistress, we’ve run countless spells, hunting down every tiny instance when they were mentioned.” That was Mr. Brecken’s voice. “There’s nothing left.”

“Then why did I just see Kasi Smith having lunch with Jahrdran Vilnik?”

“Did you? Interesting. Perhaps they have an assignment together.”

“They’re in completely different years and don’t have a single class together.”

“Well, the castle is fairly empty at this point. Perhaps it’s simply coincidence.”

“As if I believe in coincidences. No. This is something more. Their body language was disturbingly intimate. We cannot risk them becoming friends. It’s the fastest way for Kasi to discover the truth.”

“My dear, Ophelia.”

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