Page 88 of House of Ydril

That strikes me as odd, but Nuala is already taking out her phone and showing Moswen a picture. “This is what I found there, and what I think is, well, the third blood ritual.”

I lean forward to take a look. They’re stacked onto a weathered grave. The bunch of burning eyes that I’m looking at right now.

With bated breath, I look to Moswen. “Yes,” she says with a sigh. “That’s a blood ritual. And it seems to have something to do with Sight.”

I take in a deep breath and say, “So now it’s all three bloodlines. It was shifters, then vampires, now faes.”

“What could it all mean?” Nuala asks.

“I don’t know what the fuck it means,” I hear myself hiss, “I just know who’s behind it all.”

“Quinn,” Nuala starts, but I don’t let her finish.

“Nuala,” I practically growl at her. “You thinkIwant this to be happening? For crying out loud, I actually started to like the guy,” I keep going, getting more worked up with each word. “I don’t know how it’s happened, I mean, Iknowpeople, but he seems to have managed to fool us all. Of course, now it all seems so obvious. It isn’t just Leo who’s both a vampire and a Viper. And everything else that we eventually found out, well, Faust has a web of spies and servants, he could’ve planted the evidencesoeasily. Especially since we made him fucking chief of the investigation, holy fuck, how stupid we were. But we won’t be making the same mistake. I mean, I did let my anger get the best of me just now, when he was still here, but I didn’t actuallytellhim that I know. That I know he’s tried to kill me. So we can just pretend that we don’t know, which is actually quite fitting because we really need to makehimour top priority right now. Learning as much as we can, tailing him to finally figure out what the hell’s going on. So what do you think, girls, you with me?”

When I finally finish, catching my breath, there’s a tense silence as both of them look at me with worry in their eyes. “Oh please don’t look at me like that,” I say with a sigh. “I’m so tired.”

And I move to lie down, but it’s at that exact moment that I hear a sharp knock at the door.

Suddenly alert, I sit up straight, I close the diary shut to get Moswen back to safety and I say, “Come in.”

To my surprise, it’s the Pied Piper’s assistant. “Miss Longborn?” she asks and I nod. “The Pied Piper would like you to pay her a visit.”

I throw a glance at Nuala and say, “Of course, I’ll come first thing tomorrow.”

“Now, if you don’t mind,” the girl insists.

Oh fucking hell, I think to myself as I stop myself from letting out a groan. If I didn’t stop myself, I know that that groan would be full of desperation.

Chapter thirty-seven

Aswemaketheclimb to the Main Tower, where the Pied Piper’s office is, the assistant and I only exchange a couple of words. I don’t think she knows anything about what’s just happened because she thinks I’ve sustained my injuries during the Trials. And to be honest, I don’t linger on it too much. I don’t even try to figure out why the Pied Piper wants to see me, that’s how shaken up I still am.

When we finally enter the foyer where I last found myself on the day of Professor Mistila’s shocking suicide, I I expect the assistant to tell me to wait in front of the office. To my surprise, she knocks on the door opposite to it.

“Yes,” I hear the Pied Piper say and the girl nudges me to walk in.

I hesitate for a second, but then I open the door and peek inside. I don’t see her, but I hear her when she says, “Come on, I don’t have all day.”

I walk inside and close the door behind me, surprised when I see that I’ve found myself in the Pied Piper’s private rooms. It’s still bright outside, but in here, it may as well be the middle of the night. As far as I can tell, there are no windows and the space is lit only by a couple of candles placed in sconces along the rough stone walls. I take a hesitant look around, noticing rows of bookshelves, a coffee table and a couple of easy chairs here and there. But except for those, the place is very minimalist.

“Care to join me?” I hear the Pied Piper ask and my head snaps in the direction of the voice.

I haven’t noticed her because it’s so dark and she’s wearing her usual black dress. But she’s standing next to a commode to my right, holding out a glass filled with a transparent liquid. Thinking a bit of alcohol might be exactly what I need right now, I nod and take a few steps closer to her.

But she doesn’t just give it to me. She raises the wrist of her other hand to her mouth and bites into it without so much as flinching. As I watch, she lets a single drop of her blood fall into the glass, instantly making the liquid turn deep red.

“No, thank you,” I say as I stop where I find myself. It would probably only take my pain away, but I’m not prepared to risk it.

She just looks at me for a second. Then she lets out a chuckle and shakes her head, stalking up to me as she says, “You know, Miss Longborn, when I first saw you, I had the feeling you weren’t the sheltered pup I’m used to seeing around here. However, I never would have thought you’d bethissuspicious.”

“Does it really come as a surprise,” I ask, frowning a little, “considering how we met?”

She laughs again. “If you think I’m going to apologize for that, you’re sadly mistaken.” She shakes her head and walks around me, stopping once she’s in front of me again, as if I were her prey and she wanted to take a better look at me. “I’ve lived throughwarsthat went on for a hundred years so I refuse to let you youngsters convince me that the way I treat you is anything less than merciful.”

I scoff. “You don’t have to be Dracula for me to think I should be careful around you.”

She squints at me. “What about me? Shouldn’t I be careful aroundyou?”

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