Nina watches me and waits a beat. “Are you sure that’s not because he’s attractive and paid attention to you?”
My face flames.
Is that what this is? Am I really so pathetic that a man showing me basic human kindness is enough to make me trust him?
“I’m not judging,” she says. “Attraction can be useful.”
I blink. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that if Tobias Cane is attracted to you, that’s leverage.” She moves closer, her eyes holding mine. “If you can get close to him and earn his trust, you might be able to access information we couldn’t get any other way.”
The implication settles over me like a cold blanket.
“You want me to use him.”
“I want you to be strategic.” She shrugs one shoulder. “He has access to Council information. He has magic that could help you understand what the backlash of the broken emberlink bond made you forget, and he’s shown interest in helping you. Why not take advantage of that?”
“It’s not like that.” The words come out too fast. “I’m not pretending to like him so I can get information.”
Nina’s eyes glitter. “Because youactuallylike him.”
“I don’t know what I feel.” I press my palms against my thighs, my heart beating fast. “Oliver’s gone, my bond is dead, and I shouldn’t be thinking about anyone like this.”
“It doesn’t matter what you think youshouldbe doing, because youarethinking about him like this,” she says, and I swear this girl knows exactly what to say to get under my skin.
“It doesn’t matter what I feel. He’s Council. He’s here to investigate. Whatever this is…” I gesture at my chest, to where my heart and broken emberlink bond are. “It’s irrelevant.”
“Is it?” she says softly. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks very, very relevant.”
2
AVERY
Nina moves backto the altar, trailing her fingers along its edge.
“You don’t have to decide right now, but you should take some time to think about it. You already believe Tobias can figure out what’s wrong with your memories. He’s agreed to help. If that means acting on your interest...” She tilts her head and trails off, leaving me to fill in the blanks.
“Fine. I’ll think about it,” I say, even though the next time Tobias looks at me with those pale, understanding eyes, I doubt I’ll be thinking strategically at all.
Nina nods. Then her expression becomes more serious, and she turns to face me fully, the eternal flame casting half her face in shadow.
“Oliver discovered a dangerous secret, and we need to learn what that secret is,” she says suddenly, moving closer and lowering her voice. “There are passages running through this school—hidden tunnels that connect different buildings, different rooms. My family’s documented their existence for generations, even though we’ve never been able to access them ourselves. No one can, unless they pass the passage’s trials.”
“Okay…” I trail off, since secret magical passages aren’t exactly shocking at a school like Blaze Academy. “What does this have to do with Oliver?”
“I told him about the passages,” she says, watching me carefully now.
My heart’s pounding so hard I can feel it in my throat. “And?”
“He attempted the trials himself.” She pauses. “He passed. I didn’t.”
The words take a moment to sink in.
Oliver knew about secret passages running through the school. He passed trials to access them.
And he never told me.
Not a word. Not a hint. Not even a casual mention of “hey, Avery, guess what I found today?”