Page 10 of The Vipers' Vow

Jarl flexes his fists, and I think he’s going to hit me again. I hope not, because he hurt my cheekbone. It feels tingly and weird, almost numb.

“No one wants to find out the truth as much as I do,” Jarl snarls. “If she cared, she wouldn’t be with you fuckers, would she? Dirty whore.”

There he goes again. Maybe he’s nice to Vani’s face and only talks about her this way behind her back. She might be helping him, she might not, but I’m going to use any advantage I can to try to get out of this.

“Or …” I point out, “she’s with us because she knows it wasn’t us.” I stare at him. “Think about it. Vani just wanted to find out what happened to her sister. She came to Verona Falls for that exact reason. That’s how much she cares about Reagan. She wouldn’t be with us if she believed we killed her.”

Maybe it’s true, maybe it’s not. I have no way of knowing until I can speak with Vani, but if it buys me some time, I’ll try anything.

I continue, “Trust me, we want to know who did it, too. We need to clear our names because this shit has gone on for long enough.”

His gaze holds mine, and I see the moment he makes a decision. He snaps his fingers and heads out of the room, his goons behind him, and I close my eyes.

I don’t know if I just bought myself some time, saved myself … or signed my own death warrant.

4

SAINT

My brother missing is like a knot in my stomach. Except it seems to rise higher and higher up my throat until I feel as though I’m going to choke on it.

Up until this moment, I’m not sure I appreciated just how much the two of us are connected.

I don’t care about anything else—not the stupid Preachers or whatever stupid magic they might have tried to use on me. I’ll do whatever it takes to get him back.

I glance over at Vani. She seems as worried as I am. This isn’t a girl who has gotten what she wanted by spying on us for Jarl. She’s too devastated for that. If she’d been the one to put all this in motion, she wouldn’t still be here with us and be so openly upset. Unless she’s a genius mastermind manipulator, and I deep down know she’s not. Despite my earlier misgivings, I believe her.

Which means we have an enemy within the college. A ghost who has been lurking in the corridors, unseen, waiting for their moment. Is this ghost the same person who has been sending Vani terrible notes? The same one who put the leaflet in the mailboxes for everyone to see? It makes sense. Play us all against one another, make it so none of us knows who to trust. It’s what I would do if I wanted to mess people’s heads up. Divide and conquer.

It makes finding out the truth ever more urgent. If the same person is behind everything, we need to take them down. Fucking destroy them. They’ve messed with the wrong people.

We find Angelica in the library, of all places. She doesn’t seem at all worried about the sirens that had been blaring, but instead is sitting at one of the communal desks, studying.

The library is much quieter than normal. Row after row of floor to ceiling, dark wooden shelves are lined with books, and there are cubbies with computers, should anyone need to use them. Right now, no one is. I’ve never known it to be so empty.

Since she’s Vani’s friend, we’re letting Vani take the lead on this. Zane and I are right behind her, though, ready to give her whatever support she might need.

Vani approaches the desk, and Angelica glances up.

“Angelica, can I talk to you for a moment?”

“Yeah, of course.” Angelica’s gaze flicks over Vani’s shoulder and lands on the two of us. “Have you heard what’s going on at the college? They think someone has breached security.”

“Yeah, that someone was Jarl Olsen.” Vani leans against the desk and tries to get Angelica to focus on her, but she keeps glancing at me.

Angelica claps her hand to her mouth. “What?”

“He came on campus with some of his men, and it looks like he’s taken Lex.”

“Oh, my God.” She sinks back in her chair. “I hope this doesn’t have something to do with me inviting Jarl here the other day to speak to you.”

Vani’s tone is hard. “Well, there’s a possibility it did.”

Angelica stares up at her with wide, innocent eyes. “I am so, so sorry. I had no idea something like this would happen. You know I was only trying to help.”

Vani’s expression softens, but only slightly. “Yeah, well, we need your help again, if you truly want to help us.”

Her brow furrows. “Of course I do, but to do what?”

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