Page 63 of The Devil We Crave
The last person I was worried about, almost more than the Kildare brothers, was Noor Drakos, Achilles’ cousin who’s also president of The Ouroboros Society.
Not because she’s scary, but because I’mincrediblyintimidated by her.
Apparently she’s a literal genius, and to be president of one of the four clubsas a junioris almost unheard of. She’s also captain of the girls' soccer team. If all that wasn’t enough, Noor’s father, Achilles’ uncle Deimos, is Greek, and her mother Dahlia is half-Persian, half-French.
Needless to say, Noor herself is gorgeous, with deeply tanned skin and crystalline blue eyes that pop from behind thick black lashes. I, along with probably every girl at Knightsblood, am alsoinsanelyjealous of her shampoo commercial level hair.
But I can cross that fear off the list now, too. I bumped into her when I went over to meet Galina and Arianna, and she was super understanding about the whole thing.
So I guess I don’t have to be scared to go visit my Ouroboros friends.
…Except for that fucking snake, that is.
“Well,hard passfrom me on living at The Spire,” Galina shivers. “No way.”
“Yeah, forget creepy,” Ari mutters. “That is hands down thescariestplace on campus to live.”
No argument here. The old guard tower and lighthouse perched on a jagged piece of rock jutting out of the ocean is only accessible by a small stone causeway bridge that crosses from the main cliffs.
“But Kingsward Hall,” Galina sighs. “I’d live there in a heartbeat.”
Arianna grins. “Well,yeah,” she laughs. “It’s a palace. What a brave choice.”
Ari and I giggle when Galina rolls her eyes. Then she stops and gets one of those “thirst looks” on her face usually reserved for her MaskTok men.
“Shit, there’s my daily reminder that I’m going to Hell.”
We both turn to follow her gaze.
“Ungh,” Arianna moans. “Same.”
The man walking through the garden beside St. Aldric’s Chapel is probably about thirty, with dark hair and almost supernaturally bright silvery-gray eyes. He’s also easily six foot four, and even though I’ve never seen him wearing anything but either black clerical robes or jeans and a long-sleeved henley when he’s working in the church garden, it’s clear the man isyoked.
Combine all that with a face that would make Henry Cavill jealous, and, well…
Guess I’m also going to Hell.
“I can’t tell if him looking like that is a mockery of the idea of religion preaching to ignore temptation, or a legit test by a higher power,” Galina sighs.
“Testify,” Ari mumbles, still staring at Father Hale, St. Aldric’s resident pastor.
Galina elbows me. “When even Ari gets hot and bothered by a guy, youknowhe’s hot.”
Arianna rolls her eyes. “Hilarious,” she mutters as Galina gives her a hug.
Ravencroft Library isn’tquiteas creepy to me as The Atheneum, what with the lack of nightmare-fuel snake skeletons, and shark stomachs sitting in three-hundred-year-old formaldehyde. But it’s still a dim, dusty place that feels like it should be filled with spellbooks and grimoires, not modern textbooks.
The three of us set up at an old wooden table, a brass and green-glass lamp in the middle casting golden, muted light and deep shadows across our books. Galina and Ari have a test on Napoleonic Europe to study for, and I need to start my research for a paper on the United States’ role in financing World War Two.
“Let me see, dear…”
At the circulation desk, the head librarian Delores knits her silvered brows as she clacks away on an ancient computer keyboard. “Ah, yes, we do have it.”
Thank God. In plotting out my essay, I’ve realized I can’t for the life of me find the notes IknowI took in class a week ago when we were discussing William Jansen’sUncle Sam: Banker to Europe…which of course has been out of print for seventy years and isn’t available anywhere online.
Mercifully, however, Ravencroft has a copy.
“But it’s not up here.” Delores frowns at her screen. “It’s in the lower stacks.”
