Page 11 of For Dear Life

And figuring out Violet or what she wants is as impossible as persuading her father I’m Petrescu in name only.

4

VIOLET

“What the hell?” shrieks Holly.

I’ve never seen a human move this fast, the laptop almost flying from her knee as the girl in candy pink striped pajamas leaps from her bed. The bowl of chips beside Holly on the bed spill across the floor as she darts a look towards the door.

Rowan and Leif are sitting on our carpet beside me, Rowan head in hands, as with our last blood spell travel. Grayson immediately stands and gazes around the room. Leif blinks at his surrounding and remains still.

“Where did you come from?” she continues, at an unnecessarily high pitch.

“My parents.” I stand and close my eyes, attempting to detect any unknown magical energy inside the room, but can only sense Rowan’s.

“They live in Scotland,” she replies.

“Yes.”

Holly swallows hard as her eyes drop to my bleeding finger—then to where Rowan smeared some on the floorboards while pushing himself to sit. She covers her mouth with a palm, her wan skin turning whiter.

“Holly doesn’t like blood,” I announce. “We’d better stop bleeding.”

I nod at Grayson, who can easily fix his—thankfully—as he puts a finger in his mouth. Irritatingly, the desire for his blood I’ve held my breath against isn’t helped by mentioning bleeding.

“Oh.” Leif grabs a white tissue from a box on my nightstand and wraps it around his wounded index finger. “Sorry.”

I press my tongue against my own finger, sealing the wound, then take hold of Rowan’s and lick my thumb before pressing the pad against his finger.

“You’re very tactile, Violet,” he says weakly.

“I want to prevent Holly from passing out.” I drop his hand and wipe my thumb on my pants in case I’m tempted to taste the witch blood too. Who knows? Death might decrease the anti-bloodlust potion’s effects.

“My blood phobia isn’t the issue,” Holly says in a wobbly voice. “I’m halfway through an episode of Married At First Sight and four people appear from nowhere in the middle of the bedroom floor!”

“As I said, we were in Scotland and wanted to return to the academy tonight, therefore our only option was the Blackwood travel method.”

“Blood magic isn’t permitted,” she whispers. “Neither is guys in our room.”

“I’m not keeping them here,” I retort.

“Not even Rowan?” She gives a small smile.

Good grief. “We’re all tired after a long day,” I inform her and look at the guys. “Aren’t we?”

Ever since we arrived at my family home, the guys lost their normal sense of speech and became rather subdued. My parents can be intimidating, but we were safer there than in the vicinity of a partially destroyed lodge containing a corpse. Besides, now Dorian knows I’ve become ‘more amiable’, which is what he wanted. Isn’t it?

“You never told me you planned to go to Scotland,” says Holly.

“I was pursuing leads in my investigation with the help of my acquaintances.” I wrinkle my nose at Grayson. “Mostly they helped.”

“In Scotland?” I consider Dorian’s words. Should I be suspicious of Holly?

“My findings required a visit to Dorian. As you know, there’s concern this may be aimed at him.”

She seems to consider this for a moment, staring at me harder. “What happened? You look paler than usual, Violet.”

“I’m not wearing make-up.”

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