Page 89 of House of Ydril

“What’re you talking about?” At least one good thing came out of all this, I think to myself. Any other day and I’d be terrified to speak to her this way.

Letting out an exaggerated sigh, she takes a step back, folds her arms and says, “You’ve been hiding things from me, little mouse, ever since you came here.”

“Hiding things from you?” I reply, feigning surprise to buy time and figure out what she knows. “For me to do that, we’d have to have some kind of relationship first.”

“Don’t do that,” she warns. “You’ll only wear out my patience.”

“Then tell me exactly what you’re accusing me of.”

She lets out a laugh. “Let’s see,” she says as she walks up to an easy chair and takes a seat, the tail of her dress dragging after her. “Sneaking into the Forbidden Section in the Library, for example. Lying to my assistant on the day of the First Round. Lying tomeon the day of Professor Mistila’s death.” She pauses to throw me an amused look. “Should I go on?”

“It’s not likeyouhadn’t lied tome,” I protest, clenching my fists.

“When have I ever donethat?”

“After the First Round, you told me you’d look into that mess that someone left in the woods. People were murdered, for crying out loud. And I waited, but you did absolutely nothing.”

“There was nothing there,” she says, her voice turning colder, “and you know it.”

I open my mouth to protest, but she raises her hand to silence me. “No, I’ve let this go on long enough.” She gets up again and walks up to me, throwing me a look with absolutely no amusement in it. “Ever since you came here, trouble has been following you, little mouse. And I’ve let you do as you please, even after Professor Mistila, but now that you’ve been assaulted, for thesecondtime, if I may add, I’d like you to tell me what exactly is going on.”

“How do you know?” I ask, my mind buzzing.

“That is none of your concern.”

So he told her. It’s only now that it’s hitting me, but of course, it’s a real possibility that she’s in cahoots with him.

My lips pressed tight, I finally decide to say, “There’s nothing going on. Can I leave now? I’m pretty beat, you know, from the ethically dubious Trials you’re forcing me to participate in.” I turn to face the door.

“Well,” she drawls, “that’s precisely the thing. You’ll no longer be participating in them.”

That makes me stop and turn back to her, frowning. “What? But it’s too late now. I have the holy contract signed with that magic tree or whatever,” I say as I lift my wrist to show her the tattoo.

“You do indeed. And it would be impossible for you to get out of it without dying…” She pauses and quirks an eyebrow at me. “But there’s quite a lot that a Pied Piper can do that no one else can.”

I’d lie if it didn’t make me think for a second, but I almost immediately shake my head and say, “No. I have to participate.”

“Really?” she goes back to that amused look of hers. “And why is that?”

I shake my head again, cursing myself for reacting the way I did and trying to think of a way out of it. “I hate not getting to finish what I started,” I say with a smirk.

She just looks at me for a second. “Very well.”

“What, that’s it?” I ask, frowning.

She shrugs. “Thereisa way for me to get you out of the contract, but it requires you to… not struggle, let’s put it that way.”

I squint at her. “Lucky me. Does that mean that I get to walk out of here alive?”

She lets out a chuckle. “The door is right there, but before you leave...” She takes a step closer to me and looks deep into my eyes. “You should know you’re not the first of your kind I’ve encountered in this life. You have a burning fire inside you and you think you can take on the world, don’t you? But fire is a fickle thing and it sometimes burns the one that wields it.”

“What’s your point?”

“Just that it would do you good to remember that I’m keeping an eye on you.”

That makes me shudder, but I force myself not to let it show. I give her a smile, turn on my heel and walk away. I don’t know what she’s up to, this Pied Piper of ours, but the one thing I’m sure of is that she’s lying to me. And to be honest, I’ve fucking had it with people lying to me.

Chapter thirty-eight

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