Page 67 of House of Ydril

“Yes, professor?” I squeeze out.

“It’s not just me,” she replies in a chillingly flat voice, barely moving a muscle. “So many people, they’ve killed so many people and glamored the rest of us.”

The shock almost makes me topple over. And then it all happens so fast.

Professor Mistila gets up off her chair, takes something out of her pocket and raises it to her neck. A knife.

I hear the Pied Piper yell out, but I don’t register the words themselves because the professor jerks the hand with the knife just enough to slice her own neck in a single, violent movement.

The sight of her blood gushing out makes my knees give out and my stomach collapse in on itself.

The next moments stretch out without me barely registering any of the things that happen.

The Pied Piper’s assistant barges in and starts screaming.

The Pied Piper shuts her up, sends for the doctor and starts asking me questions. What do I think Professor Mistila meant by what she said, she wants to know.

I keep telling her I don’t know. I’m feeling numb but I’m frantically trying to get the blood off my sweater. She’s the last person I’d tell, I think to myself, now especially.

And I guess I really seem out of control, trying and failing to unzip my bloody hoodie with gritted teeth, because Faust walks over to me and takes me by the shoulders. He says that there’s been enough questioning and that I obviously need a moment to collect myself.

He takes me out into the foyer, plants me in a chair and asks me to tell him what I know.

And I do. I tell him everything.

Chapter thirty

Idon’twanttoleave Longborn’s side, but once Nuala comes to get her, I find no excuse to stick around.

So I leave for my quarters, planning on starting the investigation as soon as possible. But when I arrive through the back entrance, I find Max wringing his hands in the living room.

I walk up to him, frowning.

“There’s, like, a bunch of lords and ladies waiting for you in the foyer,” he says.

“Regarding…”

“They won’t say,” Max replies with a shrug. “But they seem just about ready to go on a murder rampage and you weren’t answering your phone so I just lied to them that you’re in a meeting.”

“Bloody hell,” I say with a sigh and whip out my phone. When I went to see the Pied Piper, I turned it off so as not to be disturbed. And now it’s showing dozens of missed calls. Frowning, I scroll down the list of names, which includes everyone from Count Eichel to Archduke Erfurt.

“Should I start sending them in?” Max nudges me, making me look up from my phone.

“No, not yet,” I tell him, shaking my head. “Something’s going on and I need to find out what it is before I see any of them.”

Max nods and takes his leave. I pour myself a drink at the bar and go to my study to check the news on my laptop. But as soon as walk through the door, I see an envelope on my desk. The kind one of my informants uses. A new report must have arrived while I was at the Pied Piper’s office.

I sit at my desk and open it, scanning page after page of official documents. The conclusion? This new drug that the Scions were testing has passed all rounds of trials. And it’s about to be legalized.

And why did that bring a bunch of pissed-off vampires to my door?

Because the drug, which they seem to plan on naming Obstructor, is supposed to render people immune to Mind Magic.

I let out a sigh and I ring the bell on my desk. A couple of seconds later, I hear Max walk in. I crane my neck and say, “I need you to go out there and tell them to come back some other day.”

Max hesitates so I turn my chair to face him. “I know what they’re here for,” he finally speaks. “I was about to come in to tell you that the Archduke has just spilled the beans.”

“No kidding.” I let out a laugh. “Let me guess, he wants me to form a government body that will insert itself into the Scion government.”

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