Page 58 of Faerie Marked

“You better be careful because if someone hears you, they will think you don’t really care for your classmates.”

“Maybe I just have a knack for seeking out quality friends.”

And boom, the warm fuzzy feeling again. I was becoming addicted to it.

We finished the study session with Roman improving his levitation spell by leaps and bounds. He’d had some of the text pronunciation off and I wondered why no one had bothered to correct him up to this point.

Not my business. At least we left the library in good spirits.

I sat down to dinner next to Melia, the guys off for a prior engagement neither one of them had bothered to tell me about. Men.

“What’s up with them?” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder at their twin retreating forms.

“I don’t know. I’m not in the inner circle of trust, apparently. They haven’t said anything even though we’ve been studying for hours.” I stared down at my salad and apple, my gorge rising. What I wouldn’t give for a big juicy burger dripping with cheese.

“Ooh, you had another afternoon study session with the prince.” Melia leaned closer and said in a conspirator’s whisper, “Any kind of hanky-panky going on there?”

I picked up a grape and tossed it at her. “Not even funny. Besides, Roman was there too.”

Once I finished my lackluster dinner, I headed back to the dormitory with my spell books. They made for dry company but unfortunately, I hadn’t been lying when I told Mike I was worried. I might be in the top 25 overall for now, but there were still a few more hurdles to get through before I could feel safe about my position. There were too many variables for me to worry about.

There was no one around when I pushed through the door, breathing in the familiar scents of the dorm. Lemon wood polish on the floor and the floral scent of lavender and rosemary sprigs hanging from the windowsills.

I let out a sigh of relief. I could not deal with Persephone and the rest of her mean girls right now. I’d gotten lucky in this little piece of alone time.

But my tentative quiet came to an end soon enough. Turning the corner toward my bunk, I stopped short.

The drawers built into the wall where we stored our clothes were thrown open. Only mine. My mattress had been tossed down and feathers and springs littered the floor where someone had taken a knife and slit open the fabric.

I dropped my books and bolted forward. “No!”

My clothes had been rummaged through, my intimate belongings spread around for anyone to see. I climbed the ladder to see if anything had been left. Nothing.

Which meant—

My vials.

I dropped to the floor and flung through the ruined remains of the mattress, searching for the box.

“No,no.”

My heart began to race and I tasted copper in my mouth. I finally found the box lying on its side amidst a pile of broken glass.

This couldn’t be happening. Who would do something like this?

I’d been targeted.

My stomach dropped to the floor. I followed it, slicing my finger open searching for the last two vials and blood dripped down onto the wood. The onlytwovials I had left. They couldn’t be broken. If they were, then I’d lost everything.

21

Two vials. All I had left to make it through until winter break and the end of the semester when I could see Barbara again and sign the rest of my soul away on another unnamed favor.

I groaned, dropping my head down in my hands amidst the chaos.

Someone had deliberately destroyed all but two of my potions. Who? And how did they know where to find them?

The idea of going back to my uncle and a life as Kendrick Grimaldi’sbitchhad me so scared I lost my breath. I couldn’t draw air into my body.

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