He exhaled slowly. “I fear Haniel would be no more gentle. But the girl could be anywhere.”
“No, one of the White Foxes said she was in Arjevica, but they couldn’t find her. That she’d vanished into thin air?—”
A knock came. A few seconds later, the door opened and Lara came in. “Your ten minutes are up,” she said dryly. “Grandmother has been watching the clock.”
Gavriel stiffened, ready to argue, but Cathrynne cut him off.
“Lara,” she said, “if I tell you what happened to me, will you do as I ask?”
Her sister gave a fierce nod. “Whatever it is, I’m in.”
“Good. Because we need your help.”
Chapter 31
Kal
Darkness pressed against the bay windows.
It was almost time to run again. Levi had her new identity card and ferry ticket to Bactra. Kal would meet him at the port at nine o’clock?—
A pea bounced off her forehead.
“Are you even listening?” Gabi demanded with a teasing smile.
Kal looked up from her half-eaten casserole. The dining hall’s background noise surged back; clinking silverware, loud conversations, the occasional cackle of laughter.
“Sorry, what?” she asked.
“I was saying,” Gabi continued, “that Professor Haddad is sleeping with the history teacher. They were making eyes at each other all through assembly.”
“Scandalous,” Kal said, forcing a smile.
She chewed and swallowed, tasting nothing. Now that the day she’d dreamt of for weeks had arrived, she felt an unexpected tightness in her chest. She really liked her roommates, and the other girls in her classes were warming to her—even the tough ones who’d given her a hard time when she first arrived.
Bit by bit, she’d learned their stories, each unique yet depressingly similar. Most involved fathers, boyfriends, or husbands. Controlling bullies who let their fists do the talking. It made her realize how lucky she was to have a caring, close-knit family. Her parents and brothers must be at wits’ end by now, but any contact would put them in danger. If the White Foxes thought they could get to her through the people she loved, they wouldn’t hesitate.
The thought made her expression darken, but then Kal looked around at the relaxed, smiling faces in the dining hall and had to concede that not all witches were evil. Some of these young women would be dead if they hadn’t found a safe haven at the Lenormand School. They’d been given hope, a second chance, support and friendship. And a few of them, like Gabi, were blazingly brilliant with bright futures ahead of them.
Even the cosmetology track wasn’t so bad. She’d actually grown to enjoy it a little bit. She was starting to feel like she might belong here?—
“But you don’t,” Durian said firmly from the bench next to her. “We have to keep moving, Kal. Keep running until we find Travian. He’s the only one who can protect you now.”
Durian had been saying a lot of weird stuff like that lately. Cult of the Bard stuff.
Elena leaned forward, sympathy in her eyes. “You look tired, Kyra.”
In truth, she was both keyed up for the night ahead and exhausted from barely sleeping the night before. For a minute, she considered sticking around. But sooner or later, the white witches would turn up here—and she needed to be long gone when they did.
“It’s been a rough week,” she said, covering a yawn. “I think I’ll turn in early.”
Elena frowned. “It’s not even eight. We were going to study in the library, remember?”
“Oh, right. I’ll catch you there in a bit.” Kal felt bad lying to them. Worse that she couldn’t say a proper goodbye.
Gabi—always the intuitive one—gave her a searching look as if she suspected something.
“I swear,” Kal insisted, “I really am okay. Just a little strung out. All those late night runs.”
