Bloodline Diplomacy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 3) - Lan Chan (thriller books to read .txt) 📗

I speared some chicken on my plate. “Hard not to when everybody keeps staring at me.” The last part went up a couple of octaves. I made the point of staring around at the tables in front of us. Some heads dipped but most of them ignored me. I groaned.

It was at that point that Sophie arrived. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot. It was no wonder given she had snuck into bed at three in the morning. The light from her lit palms had woken me and I couldn’t get back to sleep. It was just as well. I’d been having a dream where I was drowning, and I couldn’t move my bloody arms or legs to try and swim.

She gave me a weak smile and sat down opposite me beside Diana. Not bothering to hide her fatigue, Sophie yawned.

“How did it go?” I asked. She’d been in Seraphina trying to revive Astrid.

“She’s not responding as yet,” Sophie said. She picked up her fork but did nothing beside move peas around. “The stuff they used is some kind of toxic chemical. It’s been magicked to stick to her skin. No matter what I do to try and get it off, it feels like my magic won’t even sink in.”

I patted her hand. “You’ll figure it out.”

Diana exhaled. “That’s really messed up,” she said. “Evan told me the mages from the First Order have stepped up their surveillance of their quadrants.”

“Tell me about it,” Trey said. “I can’t get in or out of the Reserve without getting the third degree. And I’m only half human.”

Trey’s mum was human. I’d met her a few weeks ago when I was trying to learn about everything going on inside that part of the Reserve.

“Maybe if the Nephilim would let me talk to Giselle,” I said. But that was a moot point. Until Giselle regained consciousness, there was nothing to talk about. We really didn’t even know if she was going to have the full spectrum of her powers.

Sophie cleared her throat. “Umm...Kai told me to let you know that we’re going back tonight. And probably every night until we can figure out how to cure this thing.” I had always thought my poker face was pretty good so I was sure it wasn’t my expression that gave away the turbulence that shook my insides. Truly, I couldn’t really even pinpoint what was upsetting me.

“Okay,” I said.

“Lex.”

I wished everybody would stop saying my name like that. Like I was a hair’s breadth away from losing my shit.

“Don’t worry about it. Just do whatever you can to cure Astrid.”

That was all well and good, except when I went to Potions class, Sophie’s usual desk beside me was empty. Charming, Sophie’s favourite salamander, huffed smoke when I dared to ask him to light up my cauldron. Her absence was a massive hole in my life.

I felt it all the more after dinner when I came back to an empty dorm room. Feeling mopey, I got into my pyjamas and used the mirror to contact Basil. I was surprised when he answered pretty much straight away. I was not surprised by the scowl on his tanned face. I took me a second to digest the sight of Skander’s face peering back at me. I brushed away the unease that always had me dredging up thoughts of seeing that face up close inside the Dominion prison.

“It’s about time!” Basil said. The vein in his brow jumped. This version of Basil was always annoyed at me. As weird as it was to have had a grown man in my room, I felt the strain of not being able to access him whenever I wanted.

“Hello to you too.”

“Don’t start with me, Alessia.” Oooh. He was using my full name. I was in for it now. “You were supposed to call last night.”

Somebody made a soft murmuring sound in the background. The side of one of Odette’s many multicoloured skirts swept onto the corner of the mirror. I raised a brow at him, but this seemed to fuel his annoyance. “Don’t even think about saying a word.”

I would have totally done it if I didn’t think it would hurt her. She was really nice. Too good for him and his grumpiness. But I zipped my lips and tried not to smile.

He huffed out a few breaths. “How are you?”

I tracked the mirror around the room to show him how empty it was. “She’s very busy at the moment,” Basil said. I slumped against the wall and balanced the mirror on my crossed legs.

“I know,” I said. “I’m not blaming her. It’s just crappy timing.”

“For the record, I still don’t like this Terran Academy business.” He brushed at the top of his hair. “I tried to get the Council to allow me to go with you for at least the first weekend, but the Sisterhood put the brakes on that. You’d think I would get some compensation for the fact that someone in their order bound me for so long.”

“I don’t think they really care about reparations. But I appreciate you trying to help.”

It hit me then that I really wanted him to come with me. I’d kept a small distance as I worried about Skander resurfacing, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted Basil to be there when I met with the Sisterhood for the first time. He seemed to know them better than anybody else.

“You’ll be okay,” he said. I seriously had to reassess my poker face. “There’s nothing they can throw at you that you won’t be able to handle.”

I glanced over at Sophie’s empty bed. At the wigs on the window ledge and the big chest at the end of her bed. She’d told me she had spent years on her own at Bloodline. I had a flash of myself just as lonely at Terran. I heard a crack and realised I was trying to crush the glass.

“Thanks,