Page 151 of A University of Betrayal

The thought of going to stay with Larissa seemed tempting for a moment, but it was the same thing as with the pack.I didn’t belong there.Thiswas my home. And I didn’t want a Ruisangor experimenting on me.

I was sure there was an explanation for all of this.

“I’m staying here!”

Bastien’s face darkened. “You’re going to kill people.”

“I won’t.”

“You’re awake for twenty-four hours, you’ll get hungry.”

“I’mnotawake for twenty-four hours. I slept for eight hours straight last night.”

He stared at me. “That is not possible. Have you been drinking alcohol?”

Confused and still disturbed at the same time, I shook my head.

How could I be a Ruisangor? Bastien was wrong. Even the sweet aftertaste on my tongue had disappeared, and what remained was the nausea.

When I finally got out of this town, I would need a therapist.

“My mother is alive. I can’t be one of you,” I thought out loud. “And a Quatura can’t be turned... I know that.”

He stared at me intently. “Whoever your father is, your mother survived it, and even though I’m dying to know how she did it, I’ve already risked enough by coming here.”

His own fault. No one had invited him. I wouldn’t say that out loud, of course, because I still wanted to live a little longer. Even if that should preferably happenfaraway from Blairville.

“Either you come with me, and we’ll train you, or I’ll be forced to kill you.”

“What?!”

“You’re endangering the existence of our clan.”

“No, I don’t, I promise... I didn’t even know until now.”

“You know nothing about yourself. You need training.”

“Train me,” I slipped out far too quickly. “Please. Anything, but don’t separate me from my mother. She’s all the family I have.”

“You’re dangerous.” Impatience mingled with his words. And out of my growing anxiety, I got a rare smart thought.

“What do you think will happen if you take me with you, just like that, or even better, kill me? The Quatura are just looking for a reason to start a war against your family and drive you out of their city.”

His eyebrows furrowed.

I seemed to have said something he didn’t like. Maybe I was just saving my life.

“Train me, on campus, wherever, but not there at any cost. I’m staying here.” Bastien seemed to consider my words. “And I promise, in return, that no one will find out about this.”

Of course, I wasn’t in a position to make demands. Not at all. He was a full-grown man, a Ruisangor on top of that. All it would take was one move from him and I would be dead.

My heart was still pounding.

“You’re making a lot of demands.”

I bit my tongue.

He stared at me in silence. Not aggressively, no, even worse. You couldn’t read any emotion from his face. Nothing. Just as well as he could kill me right now, he would surely be able to smile and invite me to have some tea. But Ruisangors certainly didn’t do that.

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