Page 26 of A Court of Ash and Midnight
He doesn’t answer but rather reaches out and presses a finger to my lips. I almost protest, but then he makes a gesture toward the room we were just in, and I remember that on the other side of this panel, there are at least two professors who will no doubt not take kindly to me traipsing about in their building in the middle of the night. I begrudgingly keep my indignation to myself. Daemon leans forward like he’s listening.
The voices carry faintly inside the tiny crawl space we’re standing in.
A female voice first. “She shouldn’t be here, and you know it.”
“We have to find out what’s so special about her.” A male voice. I don’t recognize either of them.
“Maybe she’s a criminal. Did you ever think of that?”
I feel a blush creeping across my cheeks, both anger at the accusation, since they’re clearly talking about me, and also embarrassment since Daemon is standing inches away from me. If he has any reaction to this speculation, he doesn’t give it away. He’s so still, he could almost be a statue.
“It’s more than that… I’m not the only one who thinks so.”
“Having her here is dangerous. She could be a spy, for all we know. We can’t afford distractions right now, what with the skirmishes at the borders.”
“The Queen has put down dozens of rebellions over the last few centuries. This is nothing new.”
“The last one was a close call… supporters of House Aeternas have been rallying the last couple of decades, waiting for another chance. Waiting for their leader to join them. To finish what they started.”
Their leader. The hairs up the back of my neck prickle as I realize they’re talking about Daemon. The man standing rightbeside me in a dark secret passageway. The man who also, quite possibly, tried to poison me.
“And that is why he does not leave the castle grounds,” the man says, though his voice is so laced with tension it could snap.
Except hedoesleave the castle grounds. I know he does because he’s the reason I’m here.
I turn slowly and look up at Daemon. His body goes rigid as he senses my gaze, but he doesn’t look at me, remaining fixed on the conversation on the other side of the wall.
“It’s all connected somehow,” says the woman. “This girl showing up, war on the horizon… I may not be able to override the Queen on having a traitor living here, but I’m not going to be quiet any longer about our new arrival. I’ll speak to the Commander about it.”
“Julian will not be happy…”
“Just because he took pity on the human, doesn’t mean the rest of us have to sit here and watch catastrophe unfold at our feet.”
“If she’s a spy, that doesn’t track with someone breaking into the castle to poison her.”
“Do you really think someone was able to get inside these walls?” An audible snort. “Someone else probably suspects the same thing I do.”
“Suppose you’re right… and she is a spy… have you noticed her spending time with Daemon?”
This time he does turn, and our eyes meet in the semi-darkness.
“No…but I doubt they’d be so obvious about it…”
The voices begin to drift away, it’s clear the professors are leaving the room. Daemon still has his eyes locked on mine, and that same intensity sweeps between us. It moves through me like a storm, like the rough crash of the ocean against a rocky shoreline. It’s completely illogical, foolish, that I’m standinghere with a man who quite possibly tried to end me, a traitor and an enemy, and I’m not running screaming. I should have taken my chances with the professors, admitted my nighttime wanderings and accepted my punishment. They want me kicked out of here anyways.
But somehow, I’m still standing here.
“I know you’re the one who brought me here,” I say.
Daemon’s face grows even darker, his lips pulling into a thin line. “You are clearly delusional.”
“I’mnotdelusional,” I snap. “After I fell that night, when those men were almost upon me… I looked up and sawyourface. And next thing I knew, I was outside the castle gates.”
“I don’t know what to tell you,” he says through gritted teeth. “But you’re mistaken. You must have hit your head really hard when you fell.”
“So, how did I get here, then? How do you explain that?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know. And I don’tcare.”
