Page 54 of House of Ydril

“I’m sorry, Professor Mistila…” I mutter. Think, Quinn, think. Tell the truth, just not the whole truth. “I guess I wanted to entice you to talk. To be honest, I thought you were lying to me earlier.”

By the look on her face, she won’t be lingering on the details. “Why did you think that?” she demands.

“You seemed to be avoiding me.”

She pauses for a second, lets out a sigh and gives me an apologetic smile. “Well, I was… Before I realized you had no idea.”

I just blink at her, shaking my head a little to nudge her to keep talking.

“That I’m the one who spilled the news about you being an Olarel.”

“Right,” I say, shocked by the turn this took.

“I’m truly sorry, Quinn.” The professor shakes her head and clicks her tongue as she gives my upper arm a quick, awkward squeeze. “It’s not an excuse, but I had a little too much blood gin that evening and things got out of control.”

“Right,” I echo myself from a minute ago. My mind wants me to be elsewhere, contemplating what just happened, but Professor Mistila is raising her finger at me.

“I’m glad you’re not upset, but let it be clear,” she says sternly. “The fact that I myself am to blame for some of it, that’s theonlyreason I’ll be letting this mischief of yours slide.”

“Thank you, professor,” I say, my voice absent-minded as I move to walk away.

As soon as Professor Mistila is out of sight, I whip out my phone and text Nuala.

“Nuala, I just talked to the professor. And the stuff that’s happening… It’s even stranger than we thought,” I type, thinking about what I’ve just learned.

Professor Mistila isn’t lying about not knowing my parents. She doesn’t evenrememberthem.

“You did what?!” my friend types back. “I thought we agreed you wouldn’t do anything alone.”

I feel so lightheaded, but I almost let out a laugh. I start walking, typing some lame attempt at a joke, my eye getting drawn to the Lilith Tower, the one where the vampires reside.

I stop and just look at it for a second, its ghostly outline seeming faint against the darkening sky. Thanks to all the confusion, it didn’t even cross my mind. Now that Professor Mistila is out of the picture, I only have the Vipers as a potential source of info. And they’ve made their terms perfectly clear.

No, I think as I shake my head, despite being all alone on the gallery. I’ll cross the mythical seven seas before I come to the Little Prince with a request ofanykind.

Chapter twenty-four

Bloodyhell,howinfuriatingcanone girlbe, I think to myself when I spot her from the window of my quarters in the Lilith Tower. Going to the graveyard as regularly as other students go for lunch.

The sword still in my hand, I get so immersed in watching her, I only notice my uncle when he’s already slipped the tip of his blade under my chin.

I crane my neck to look him in the eye. “I thought we were taking a break,” I protest.

He shrugs, feigning innocence, but doesn’t pull away. I tighten the grip on my weapon, take one clean swing and send his blade flying all the way to the other side of my newly refurbished gym. Then I trip him up and come to stand above him, the tip of my sword touching his Adam’s apple.

He lets out a chuckle and motions for me to help him get up. Once he’s on his feet again, he dusts himself off and says, “I can’t say you’re not in shape, Andreas, but we really need you to start taking the Trials more seriously.”

I scowl at him. “Uncle, I’m in training twice a day,everyday.”

I turn my back to him and go to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. The sun is yet to rise, but we’ve already spent a whole hour training.

I hear uncle follow me. “Yes, but something is distracting you.”

I gulp and I turn to him, forcing myself to look him straight in the eye. “Really? Where does it show exactly?” I ask flatly, I open the water bottle and I take my time emptying it.

I’m pretending to be clueless, but I know I’m still under the microscope for what happened at the Ball. I normally don’t let my control slip that way, getting drunk and letting paparazzi take shots of me inebriated.

“Maybe it doesn’t, yet,” uncle admits. “But I’ve never seen you this… intense.”

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