Page 75 of A Dusk Of Stars

It’s only when he tears himself off the wall — throwing a glance at my friends — that it hits me. He’s supposed to attend this meeting as well. Damn it. Even if they stop requiring me to come to special classes, it seems I’ll still have to put in that request to get assigned to someone else.

Bracing myself, I turn to Alaric and Raven to ask them to wait for me. There’s a frown on Alaric’s face, but we come to an agreement without exchanging a word. I watch them go sit on one of the benches along the wall, then walk straight over to him.

“Business not going too well, Bane?” I ask, forcing a lightness into my tone. It’s only when he scowls at me that I realize I’m not being funny, I’m being insensitive. “Sorry,” I blurt out, “I wasn’t trying to—”

“Doesn’t matter,” he cuts me off. “We need to talk, Novak.”

“I’m just about to step into a super important meeting,” I say with a smile, insisting on keeping things light.

He’s still dead serious when he says, “That’s what I’m here to discuss.”

Ah. He’s probably worried he’ll have to keep babysitting me because of all the Aurora crap. I don’t want to get into the matter of switching professors before I actually manage to pull it off, but I have to saysomething. “Well… ‘discussing’ is what themeetingis all for, isn’t it?” I tell him with a smile.

He observes me for a second, biting back on something. “Fine.”

I nod and move to walk away.

He comes to block me, seemingly hesitating for a moment. “And where exactly did you go after the last one?” he asks.

“What do you mean?” I ask with a frown. “I left for winter break, like everyone else.”

He lets out a scoff. “You said you needed to be alone. That doesn’t imply disappearing for a whole month.”

I just blink at him, my mind starting to reel when I get this strong impression he’s expecting me to address what happened at the Sobbing Lake.

“Well?” he demands.

“I can’t get involved with anyone right now,” I blurt out.

He frowns. “Involved?” he echoes, something I can’t put a finger on twisting his features.

Disgust? “No, sorry, I—”

For the first time in my entire life, I’m glad to hear Lorcan’s voice. “Miss Novak,” he calls out, making me turn to see him frowning from the Lounge doorway. “If you’d be so kind so as not to waste anyone’s time.”

I only throw another glance at Bane before I turn to Raven and Alaric, raising my eyebrows in a plea for them to follow me inside.

They do, and so does Bane.

When the three of us enter the Lounge, I find Lorcan and Serra already seated around the table. “You know,” Lorcan frowns as he glances at my friends, “you can’t just bring whoever you want.”

“I think you’ll find that I can,” I reply simply. “Would you wait for me here for a minute?” I turn to ask Raven and Alaric.

Alaric nods.

I don’t take a seat, I look at Serra and ask, “Professor Naehorn, might I have a word?”

Lorcan and her exchange a look, but then she gets up and as Raven, Alaric and Bane take their seats, we step out of the room.

I don’t hesitate. If I do, I won’t get any of this done. “Why didn’t you tell me as soon as you started suspecting I’m the Aurora or whatever?”

She shrugs. “I wasn’t allowed to,” she replies simply.

“How convenient for you.”

There’s a moment of silence before she says, “I’ll have you know that none of this isconvenientfor me, Miss Novak.”

I just look at her for a second. “So you’re in the Order.”

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