Page 67 of Demon Found

“You’re awake?” She glances at the pad. “Shoot. I was going to tell you not to look.”

“What did I do?”

“Look. Maybe we need to get some things straight. Set some boundaries.”

I sniff, looking at her, my mind buzzing.

“I’m sorry, Lorelei. To begin with you seemed like you were having a good time. By the time I overheard the poisonous duo giggling, it was too late.” She sits down next to me, patting my arm. “Camille snuck extract of fae ambrian to your shrink potion in the exam. You took a whacking great dose of disinhibitor.”

My head spins. The bitch jostled me. I didn’t even notice her slip anything into my test tube. Fuck.

“Look, it doesn’t matter. Everyone will have forgotten by the time we’re back after the holidays.”

“It doesn’t matter? It doesn’t matter?!” My voice rises. “I didn’t bloody say that when Hunter drugged you!”

“I don’t mean it like that. We’ll get revenge, I promise. But we have more important things to discuss.”

I stare blankly at her, waiting for some hideous tale of “what Lorelei did next.” Instead, she tucks my blanket in around me, then takes my hand in hers, patting the back of it distractedly.

“Disinhibitors aren’t the same as a date-rape drug. They don’t make you feel things that aren’t there, they only help you act on them. I’m sure you still feel violated. I don’t mean to play down your feelings.”

I bury my head in my hands. That’s just it though. I do fancy the boys, all of them. But I didnotneed to broadcast it to them, or the whole damn school.

“Look at me, Lorelei. This is important. You can’t act on those feelings. Romantic relationships distort the balance of an allegiance. You could destroy our entire allegiance.”

I shake my head.

“I . . . I didn’t know that. I mean I wasn’t planning on it. I didn’t mean to . . . well . . . to do anything with any of them.”

“They areoff-limits, Lorelei Smith.” She tuts dramatically. “It’s not like they’re available anyway. Chano will only date if he’s found his Aeternum, Zephyr will hump anything that moves but never gives any of himself, and Camille’s promised to Farrell.”

She shrugs as she stands, as if she didn’t just drop a bombshell.

I let out a strangle mewl, a sound I’ve never made before. “Camille is engaged to Farrell?”

“Yuh-huh. A family arrangement. Since they were fifteen? She’s wyvern with strong powers and her family’s super rich and very royalist.” Naeve goes silent suddenly, but I barely notice.

Farrell is engaged. Shit. I thought . . . I mean, of course there’s nothing between us. Except that kiss when we first met and whatever happened last night. I pull the blankets over my face. Camille of all fucking people. I thought they had an on-off thing. I didn’t realize . . .

“Look, Lorelei. I’m sorry to dump this on you then leave, but my dad’s waiting. Why don’t you have a shower and nap before you think about going anywhere? I’ll video-call you tonight. We can have a proper talk when you’re feeling better.”

I nod mutely from under the covers and listen as she trips out the door.

By the time I crawl out of my blanket fort, the whole building is eerily quiet. I can’t really be the only student staying for break, surely? Although, right now, maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. I don’t want to see anyone. A small package on my desk catches my eye, it’s neatly wrapped in the most gaudy, sparkly paper I’ve ever seen.

My heart thunders.

Las Ratas? Again? I flick the tag over.

To Lorelei, Happy Solstice! Your Bestie – Naeve XX

I didn’t even give her mine. I was so excited about it too. Dammit. I can stuff it under her pillow for when she comes back. I grab my gift to her and ease it between the balls of wool scattered over her bed. It took some doing but I got the perfect gift. Okay, stole. Naeve wasn’t wrong about the freaking thing being out of print. Good thing about coming from Venez is you always have your eyes and ears open. And you keep your fingers light. I pat The Real History of Eltanin one last time before I tuck it out of sight. That thing could be considered treason. Naeve keeps surprising me. She’s a granny, with all her knitting and hatred of cursing, but she’s got to have a backbone to have had stuff like this kicking around. I burned her copy by accident when I lit our room on fire, but hopefully this will make up for it. It’s special edition.

The corner of my mouth crooks up as I inspect the gift Naeve left me. I tear at the corner of the wrapping paper and an explosion of sparkles bursts in my face. My shriek nearly splits my head in two. Fae ambrian hangover headache is the absolute worst.

The whole room is full of tiny twinkling faeflies. It’s so breathtakingly beautiful, worth it, even if my head’s now pounding. They slowly sputter out and my attention turns back to the half-opened parcel. A glint catches my eye and I rip at the paper. A heavy-ass dagger, drops into my palm. It’s perfectly balanced with intricate runes winding up the handle. I flip over the note inside.

This belonged to my great grandma. She was a badass like you. It used to be one of a pair, but only this survived. Happy Solstice, Badass! XXX

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