Page 34 of After Darkness Falls

They drank a pleasant hot chocolate—too thin and not as good as Blair’s, but okay—and headed up to the second floor.

"I'll meet you downstairs at eight, all right?"

Once in her room, Chloe closed her eyes and sighed. She half-wished she'd drunk a little more in order to avoid what was coming—the usual replay of her day, her week, her month, her life.

Why was her brain so damn annoying? Anxiety sucked.

When she opened her eyes again, she gasped and marched straight to her bedside table.

There, next to a small lamp, was a package, and on top of it, a familiar transparent flask.

The sleeping draught.

She hadn't expected it at all tonight. She'd been pretty rude to Levi the previous evening, and he'd seemed rather annoyed with her on the staircase.

But he'd sent her one anyway.

Sitting on her mattress, she opened the plain white box underneath the potion. She had zero clue what to expect.

Chloe felt strange—a little confused, very excited, and rather suspicious all at once.

When she was done tearing at the sticky tape, she opened the box to find soft dark blue fabric inside.

She pulled it out and her jaw dropped. It was a coat. Not the sort of coat she could have afforded at any point in her life. A wool and cashmere double-breasted coat with the nicest lining and big gold buttons with a crest. She put it on and moaned in delight. She didn't think she'd ever worn a piece of clothing quite so comfortable, and there was no doubt that she'd remain warm throughout the Scottish winter, even if Gwen made it snow again.

It was so damn perfect.

Too bad she couldn't accept it.

16

Battle Plan

"All right, here's the list of requirements to get your MBA," Blair stated, slapping three stapled pieces of paper on top of the breakfast table. "The entire prerequisites and curriculum."

Chloe swallowed a mouthful of bacon and sausages before beaming at her mentor.

"Thank you for getting it to me so fast."

Blair shrugged and slid into a seat at their table, plate in hand. "Of course. That's my job."

To her right, Gwen groaned as she massaged her temples. "Can you guys just stop being so loud and cheerful?"

Chloe mouthed, "Hangover" to Blair, who winced on Gwen's behalf.

"Hang on, I have a cure for it somewhere…" She shuffled through her bag before saying triumphantly, "Ah! There you go."

Blair handed a small flask of green liquid to Gwen, who grabbed it eagerly and downed it in one go, moaning in pleasure.

"Thanks!" She gave them a sunny smile, back to her cheerful self. "That's a great brew. My aunt made something like that, but it didn't taste nearly as good."

"Oh, I didn't make this." Blair took the empty bottle back from Gwen and pointed at a G and V engraved in small letters on it. "This is from Greer Vespian herself. She's anartist. She's still here, because she wants to study from the best before opening her own store, but anything she spells, hexes, curses, and brews is marvelous. Hell, she makes acne-removal salves smell good."

Admiration poured out of every word.

Gwen looked around eagerly. "Is she here?"

It was eight in the morning, and at least a hundred students were sitting in the cafeteria—a third of the entire student body. Blair shook her head.

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