Page 4 of The Devil We Crave
Wren and I share a look as she rolls her eyes.
“I’m all set with my horse situation. But you do you.”
“Tragically, I fear Galina will never find true love,” Arianna sighs dramatically. “She’s still hung up on four hundred and thirty-seven fictional men with horse dicks and Halloween masks who she unironically calls boyfriend.”
“Please,” Galina sighs, winking. “It’s four-hundred-and-thirty-nine, thank you very much. And no, I don't share.”
She and Arianna crack up as everyone takes last glances in the mirror before filing out the door. I wait until they’re all gone tosnake a hand under my mattress. My fingers close around a lacy red thong before I quickly pull it out, ball it up, and shove it into the small pocket of my leggings.
Yes, under normal conditions, planting crime scene evidence on someone innocent of said crime would be considered evil. But there’s nothing innocent about the predator I’m targeting tonight.
Sometimes bad things have to be done to stop bad people.
The five of us tumble out the front door of Morvaine Manor and follow the white gravel footpath past the woods and to the main Knightsblood campus.
Even though I’ve spent a full school year here, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to howstunningthe campus is. The original founders of Knightsblood were looking to emulate famous universities of the time like Harvard, Yale, Trinity and Oxford. They envisioned a place of higher learning in the newly-minted United States for the heirs to the aristocracy who were immigrating from Great Britain and Europe.
Since then, the core concept might have changed from “heirs to the aristocracy” to “heirs to criminal empires”, but the same motto still hangs above the gates.
To the blood of king and crown, cross and knighthood.
Hence, Knightsblood.
The five of us giggle and gossip as we walk across the campus. Kingsward Hall is all lit up like a royal palace, and you can hear the party is in full swing.
“Sweet! I totally forgot this was a masked thing!” Galina laughs when we get to the two big football or rugby player types at thefront door and are handed black Venetian masks that cover the top halves of our faces.
I didn’t forget.
It’s part of my plan.
The two guys at the door stamp the backs of our hands with a little crown, then let us through. The full din of the party hits as we step inside the cavernous, palatial mansion. I’ve been here before, of course, for various parties in my freshman year. Butwhoa. Kingsward really does feel like actual royalty lives here.
Vaulted ceilings loom high overhead. A sweeping double staircase ascends to the upper floors. Huge double doorways lead to massive, gorgeous ballrooms, ringed with gilded columns.
“Remind me why we don’t hang out here more often?” Wren moans, her jaw hanging open.
“Because you need to be invited?” Ari sighs. “And we’re not friends with anyone in Para Bellum?”
“Well, we should change that,” Galina groans, her neck craned back as she stares up at the battle scene painted in French Baroque style across the vaulted ceiling. “Immediately.”
“Except they’re all a bunch of snobs,” Arianna snickers.
“Not all of them,” Wren laughs. “I had a lecture last year with Selene Drakos, and she was super cool.”
Galina nods. “And I met Drago’s sister Tatiana at a cocktail thing that Papa dragged Zane and me to earlier in the summer. She was a little intimidating, but nice. I don’t know, though. Zanegot a little flirty with her, so I left. No one wants to see their big brother trying to spit game.”
We all laugh. Luckily, I’m the only one who realizes that my own laugh is fake.
False.
A mask to cover the nervous adrenaline coursing through my veins.
They’re all here to have a good time. Not me.
I’m here to put a monster behind bars, where he belongs.
We meander through the raucous party toward the bar. I swallow heavily and slip my fingers into the pocket of my leggings, feeling the lace stuffed inside.
