Page 131 of A University of Betrayal

Shit, man,he was actually scary.

“Sorry, it’s just these... scars,” I said to defuse the situation, but in retrospect, it sounded even ruder.

Miles rested his head in one hand, rubbing his temple – a gesture that screamed I’d messed up.

“I’m sorry…”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, Larissa. The only one who should be sorry is the Senseque who inflicted this mark on me... with the poison in his vile claws.” He was talking about the werewolves. “But don’t worry. That problem was quickly taken care of.”

My stomach turned one-hundred-and-eighty degrees.He hadn’t...

The man just smiled as if he were the sweetest soul in the world, but something menacing crossed his face.

I studied his striking features, the black hair and the three-day beard.

“Why don’t you sit down, girl?” He pulled a chair back for me, and with reluctance I took a seat opposite Adrian, who was staring fixedly at the table as if he were mentally absent.

The man left my chair and walked around the table to sit down again.

From here, I had a better view of him than I had a moment ago.

His eyes no longer glowed red, but were now a cold gray, colder than Bastien's.

Bastien no longer looked scary next to him. He was also silent and only glanced briefly at Adrian. A mimic language was being spoken here, the content of which I didn’t understand.

I spotted Camille’s eyes on me, scrutinizing, as if she were worried.

“Sacramento is a heap of misery,” the man began to speak.

Sacramento.The city where I had grown up. A heap of misery? Why was he even talking about this city?

“Infested with these miserable renegades. And the businesses are getting harder and harder to keep.” He took a sip from his glass. A glass filled with blood. Like the one in front of me. “We should move all our capital investments to the east, strengthen our influence here in the north too, before other clans come here and make claims, but unfortunately these filthy Copelands are still in our way.”

The man, who appeared to be Nicolaj, seemed to have a hatred for the wolves, and not without reason. The scars on his face, which should have healed by now, marked him.

I didn’t want to know what had happened back then.

“Horrible creatures,” he sighed dismissively, and Tristan nodded.

“Why?” I asked.

The others present paused what they had just been doing and looked at me in shock, and I wondered if I had interrupted him, but I hadn’t. What was wrong with them?

The head of the clan looked at me again. More forcefully than even Adrian could. In such a way that every last bit of blood in my veins began to pulsate.

“They take everything from us, destroy the forests and are wild beasts whose origins are impure and tainted,” he pressed out.

Had I angered him?

“There can only be war between us. Someone has to get rid of them before they have too much power over this island.” He leaned back and lowered his voice. “If you knew the serious damage those creatures have left behind for two centuries.”

Two centuries...

“How old are you?”

Miles choked on his drink and Camille’s eyes widened. The other eaters also paused, as if I had just insulted the man at the head of the table.

Fear spread through the pit of my stomach.

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