Page 65 of House of Ydril

I turn to face him, but I don’t say anything.

“I need a word with you,” he says, motioning for me to take a seat on one of the benches. I let out a sigh, but I listen. He takes the seat across from me. For a second, I’m busy hating how hot he looks and how good he smells.

“Look,” I start, confused and bewildered at the thought of being alone with him. “I did lose control for a second, but I did say I was…”

“I’m well aware,” he cuts in, raising his hand to shut me up, the fucker, “of your ridiculously short temper. But it must have been something major, that made you lose control like that. Does it have anything to do with your secret reason for being here?”

It’s a stab that would normally make me instantly start fuming, but I’m still too busy processing the way he reacted to the whole Leo situation. “What’s the point of this?” I choose to say. “I have classes to prepare for.”

He ignores my attempt at ending the conversation. “What is the point?” he asks mockingly. “You think it’s ridiculous for me, the Vipers’ leader, to make sure they don’t all kill each other over some wannabe spy?”

“I thought you at least wouldn’t mind getting rid of Leo,” I start, “considering how much the two of you seem to love each other.”

He just looks at me for a second. “When you’re a prince, you get used to people like Leo. People who think some great injustice has been done to them simply because they’re not the ones in your shoes.” He pauses before he says, “But you’re dead wrong if you think I’m letting you change the subject.”

I just look at him for a second, a strange idea taking root in my head. “Fair enough,” I finally say, “I’ll tell you why I joined the Vipers.”

At least part of the story, I think to myself. “If you promise not to breathe a word of it to anyone,” I add.

He leans back and squints at me, not saying a word. That’s how much I surprise him. But he doesn’t give me time to revel in it. “Alright, I promise,” he says.

I squint at him suspiciously.

He lets out a sigh. “I’m sure you’d like to believe otherwise, but if nothing else, I’m a man of my word.”

“Alright,” I reply with a nod. I pause for a second before I ask, “You’re an orphan like I am?”

Of course, I know he is. But he doesn’t know that. And it seems that the question takes him by surprise. It takes him a while to say, “I’m much more thanthat. But yes.”

“Well,” I start, making sure to tell the truth. Just not all of it. “Just a while ago, I learned that my parents, my real parents, are probably dead.”

“I thought no one knows who your parents are.”

“Well, that’s the thing…” I pause, trying to find the words. “I know who they are, but not even the person who knew them intimately seems to remember them. It’s as if they’ve been erased from existence. And I think one of the Vipers, or someone close to them, may have something to do with it all.”

He just looks at me for a second and then lets out a scoff. “Wow, I have to say I never would’ve pegged you for a conspiracy theorist.”

I ignore his stab. “It’s not like that. I used the House Olarel Mirror to tell me who my parents are. And no one remembering them is a fact you can easily check for yourself.”

For a moment, he stays silent. “Interesting,” he finally says. “You do realize that vampires have the ability to make people forget things?”

“Glamoring, sure,” I reply, getting goosebumps at the very thought of it. “But, even other vampires?”

“Anyone in particular?”

“Professor Mistila.”

“She the one you think knew your parents?”

I nod.

To my surprise, he scoffs. “What you’re describing sounds like a minor complication,” he says as he gets up. “If you don’t mind one other person getting involved and if I help you circumvent it…” He pauses to throw me a look. “Will you stop with the nonsense of trying to be a Viper?”

I can barely hold in the excitement. “Yes.”

He checks his watch. “I have an obligation in twenty minutes. But meet me in front of the Pied Piper’s office in an hour.”

I get up, rushing to say, “No, not the Pied Piper.”

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