Page 69 of Faerie Trials

“You’re telling me. The victims do seem to have the same aesthetic, with light eyes and red hair. All except for Juno Ians.”

“Yes, but she’s your mentor,” Melia said. “There’s the connection to you.”

“And now targeting students in the Trials instead of random Fae in the streets. It’s like he’s narrowing his focus,” Onyx offered.

I shivered. I didn’t like to be reminded of their similarity to me, or how I’d already noticed a pattern. Like a circle getting smaller and smaller until it tightened, noose-like, around my neck.

“So like I said before, we need to figure out the most likely candidate for the next attack and find a way to protect them.” Melia finished off the plate of appetizers and stared down at it, as if unsure how the delicacies had disappeared so quickly.

“Yes,” I agreed. “That makes the most sense.”

“Since we don’t go to school with you, you’re going to have to take us through the girls who will be competing. The ones with looks similar to yours, at least. Give us the details and then we can begin to narrow it down.”

“And the Trial?” Onyx asked.

“One thing at a time, friend. One thing at a time.” Melia patted him on the leg and Onyx looked like he wanted to bolt.

But he didn’t. Onyx showed no signs of backing down, which I appreciated about him. He was always there to help if I needed it, even after the terrible argument we’d had. I shot him a smile to show my gratitude. For meeting me. For staying. For being reasonable.

He leaned forward in his chair. “Show us what you’ve got, Tavi.”

I brought up a list of names I’d already thought about, along with pictures taken from the student roster. That was one thing I could say about the technology of Faerie—the magic made it much easier to access things. With my cell in hand, I swiped through the electronic roster.

There were very few halflings at Elite. In fact, there were only a handful I knew about, and none of them were half human, let alone half wolf. It simply wasn’t done. Part of the reason why I was so unpopular.

We quickly disregarded the boys, then skipped over girls with dark skin, light hair, etc. Going through and narrowing the focus until there was only one name left on the list. One photo that had my gut twisting all over again.

I sat back in the chair and had to work hard to keep from groaning.

“I take it you know her?” Onyx asked, his finger pointing at the picture on my phone screen.

“In a manner of speaking,” I hedged.Ugh.No, please. Let us be wrong this time.

Melia laughed. “I can tell from the look on your face you aren’t a big fan.”

“I mean…well, no, actually,nota big fan.” The confession drew a similar smile on both of their faces. I didn’t feel like smiling. Not when I knew intuitively they were right and we’d found the next mark. Especially knowing she was going to make thisveryhard.

Onyx tilted his head, staring at the picture. “She’s cute. In a snobbish sort of way. And I can definitely see a resemblance.”

“If Tavi were a stone-cold bitch who wore too much makeup, then maybe,” Melia argued. Good, she had my back. “I’m not convinced.”

“We don’t need you to be convinced, just to accept the probability that this is the best lead we have in catching this killer,” Onyx insisted. “Are you on board or not? This is for the good of the realm, and for Tavi. We need to stop this killer before he gets too close to his real goal.” His gaze shifted to me.

“Duh.” Melia shot me a small smile. “You know I’ll do whatever it takes to keep my girl safe.”

While that made my heart feel warm, looking at the photo on my cell phone chilled it again. We’d narrowed it to one person.

Coral Ferenze.

And I knew she wasn’t going to make this easy.

26

The day of the third Trial came before I could blink, and I stood with Mike, keeping a discreet eye on Coral. Mike didn’t understand my sudden fascination with her. I did my best not to make it obvious, but he always knew when something fishy was going on. Today was no exception.

“I’d rather you look at me like that,” he leaned close to whisper.

I shook my head. “I look at you enough.”

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