Page 124 of A University of Betrayal

“Weird?” I raised my eyebrows. “The only thing that’s weird is your lack of experience in dating.”

I palmed myself cross-legged in front of him.

“What doesthatmean?” Julian asked, also pulling one of his legs up onto the seat so he could turn to face me.

“It means what it means.” I laughed, gesticulating. “You can’t even flirt.”

“Take that back,” he snorted in astonishment. His eyes widened, and I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “Take that back, Bayla.”

“I won’t.” I couldn’t stop laughing, even when he shook my leg and I slapped his hand away, laughing.

“I’m sure you’re no better,” he snorted, leaning against his door, his eyes glinting playfully in challenge.

“Who says I want to be good at this? I don’t have a pretty girl to impress.”

He didn’t seem to have anything else to say. Instead, he shook his head with a grin and looked down. It made me notice his thick eyelashes better.

“At least you look good. That’s your compensation.”

Julian’s jaw dropped, and I took the opportunity to pull my bag off the back seat.

“I have to get going,” I said, without stopping to grin at Julian’s reaction. Then I opened the door, got out of the car and disappeared, the corners of my mouth pulled way up without looking back, even though I could feel Julian’s eyes on me.

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The whole house seemed quiet again. Not eerily, but as if there really was no one here. Somehow, I was still paranoid enough to sneak up the stairs and check that the room was closed.

The door was shut, and I pushed the handle down, but left it at that. I wasn’t in the mood to enter this room.

I remembered that I still had the written pages of the book somewhere…

Shit,they were still in the box with the student uniforms under my bed on campus. I had completely forgotten about them.

I turned away from the door, cursing, and went to Mum’s room to check that she really wasn’t there.

Her room was the same size as the other two but simpler. The decorations in this room were not as plentiful as in her book room, and there was a large desk with a glass top and two computer screens against the wall.

DLSC was written in simple italics on the screen saver. This was her employer. Whatever exactly this company did... Maybe I should find out what this company was researching? It belonged to the DeLoughreys, to the mysterious family Larissa now belonged to.

My mind flashed back to the conversation I’d had this afternoon, when she’d angrily rejected me again and called me a liar. We hadn’t crossed paths since then. She no longer slept in our accommodation, as Emely occasionally did, but at least the latter came for meals. And that hurt like hell.

After all, Larissa had to understand why I hadn’t told her anything and that everything here was crazy. Even I didn’t want to come into contact with it, and by now I was in the middle of it.

I focused on Mum’s desk again and spotted an open file on the edge of the table.

Curious, I stepped further into the room, closer to the papers until I could read them.

When I got to the end of this far too scientific document, I felt overwhelmed. It took me a while to understand what it was actually about and what the letters and numbers meant.

A little shocked, I looked at the column of Ruisangors, all high-risk births and stillbirths, and ineverycase the mother died.

I immediately thought of Larissa, who belong to the Ruisangors, which made a lot more sense now. Of course, I could be wrong, but Larissa was an orphan and her mother had died giving birth to her. What a shock it must have been for her to find out what she actually was, and at the same time it was a damn coincidence. Larissa,of all people.Did she know about these inheritance rules?

Curious, I continued to study the table and noticed another peculiarity. It was rare for a female Senseque to be born... and she had to be pureblood.

My breath caught in my throat.

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