Royals of Villain Academy 5: Corrupt Alchemy Read online

  Up until just this morning, Declan had also been employed by the school as a teacher’s aide, which had meant consorting with the students could get him into major trouble. We hadn’t been all that great at sticking to that rule, as much as he’d tried to keep our relationship strictly professional. But he’d resigned from his position today. We hadn’t had the chance to talk yet about what that would mean for our relationship.

  It didn’t look like we’d be talking about it now either. When he stopped in front of us, his face stayed tensed, his bright hazel eyes dimmed with concern. “I don’t suppose either of you has heard anything from Malcolm since the hearing?”

  My heart skipped a beat. Of the scions, my association with Malcolm Nightwood had been the most fraught. He’d spent the first few months I’d attended the school trying to crush me into submission—because I openly disapproved of how harsh he was on the junior students, because I’d still been loyal to the joymancers who’d raised me, and various other justifications.

  After a particular intense encounter between us, he’d backed off and even started helping me out here and there. I’d gotten a chance to see his better qualities and to understand why he’d resented me. And there was a spark of attraction between us that I hadn’t been able to deny even when I’d been horrified by it.

  Just a few days ago, he’d confessed to me that he “adored” me, that he’d wanted us to make a go of being together. I’d been tempted, even if I hadn’t been sure I could totally trust him. Then yesterday at the hearing, he’d unexpectedly stepped up to testify on my behalf while his father, who’d wanted nothing more than to see me fall, looked on… I’d never expected Malcolm to throw in his lot with me that blatantly. It wasn’t hard to imagine there’d been some fallout from his decision.

  “I haven’t,” I said as Connar shook his head. “Why?”

  “He hasn’t been back on campus since the hearing,” Declan said. “He missed a class this morning… One of the Nightwood employees brought his car around to the school garage yesterday, so he didn’t go anywhere in that. After the way he went against his father yesterday, I don’t like it.”

  Connar’s mouth slanted at a grim angle. My chest tightened. “Do you think his dad would have hurt him somehow in punishment?”

  I didn’t know much about Baron Nightwood other than he was incredibly intimidating and didn’t take well to being disobeyed. But Connar had told me horrible stories about how his own parents had forced him and his brother to attack each other, and indicated he thought Malcolm’s family was even more brutal. If his father had retaliated, I didn’t think it’d be a simple grounding.

  And whatever had happened to him, it’d been because of what Malcolm had done for me. I might not be walking free at all if not for him. If he hadn’t said what he had, I wasn’t sure the witness who’d been able to clear my name would have had the courage to speak up as well.

  “I don’t know.” Declan frowned as he glanced toward Ashgrave Hall, which held the senior dorms, the library, and, in the basement, the private scion lounge room. “Jude’s in the lounge—he hasn’t heard from Malcolm either. Why don’t we join him and sort out between the four of us what we want to do about it?”

  “Rory had something she needed to tell us about too,” Connar put in.

  Declan’s gaze shot to me with even more worry than before. I held up my hands. “It’s important, but not quite as immediate as this thing with Malcolm. We can tackle one subject at a time.”

  We crossed the green to the old stone building and slipped past the library to the stairwell that led to the lounge. When we came into the wide, brightly lit room with its entertainment system, pool table, and bar cabinet, Jude Killbrook was standing near the TV, poking through the video game cases stacked there. At our entrance, he straightened up in an instant, swiping his floppy dark copper hair back from his eyes. A brilliant smile flashed across his face when his eyes met mine.

  The Killbrook scion hadn’t exactly been welcoming when I’d first arrived, but he’d warmed up to me a lot faster than Malcolm had. I’d become more appealing as a friend and ally when he’d realized I wouldn’t judge him for the dangerous secret he’d been carrying. Jude wasn’t actually the heir of the Killbrook family—he wasn’t a Killbrook at all. When his parents hadn’t been able to conceive on their own, his father had gotten paranoid that his position as baron would be challenged and had arranged for Jude’s mother to get pregnant by another man under magical coercion.

  From what I’d heard, Baron Killbrook had never been able to come to terms with the scheme he’d set in motion himself. He’d shunned Jude from childhood. And now the Killbrooks were finally expecting a child that was really their own. Once a “real” heir existed, the old one was a liability, his mere existence making him a threat capable of exposing his father’s treachery.

  I was the only one on campus who Jude had dared to tell. He was very good at hiding any uncomfortable emotions under a mask of joking nonchalance.

  “Are we assembling a rescue mission, then?” he said to Declan with a teasing arch of his eyebrows.

  “I don’t know if I’d go quite that far,” Declan said. “But we might want to do something.”

  He sat down on one of the armchairs while I ended up on the couch between Connar and Jude. Connar’s hand stayed twined with mine, and Jude’s came to rest on my knee with an affectionate squeeze. If seeing their comfortable intimacy with me bothered Declan after we’d had to suppress our feelings for each other for so long, he didn’t show it. Of course, spending time with the older barons, he’d had to get good at hiding his emotions too.

  “Has Malcolm ever disappeared like this before?” I asked.

  Declan shook his head. “As far as I can remember, he’s never missed a class unless it was on some kind of official business that we all knew about. It’s important to him to grow his skills as much as possible and to set an example for the other students.”

  “Yeah,” Connar said. “And even if he hadn’t had classes today, if he was going to take off on some kind of trip, he’d usually give us a heads up so we’d know where he is if we need him.” He pulled out his phone. “I can try texting him.”

  “Give it a shot,” Declan said. “I did earlier, and he hasn’t replied. Batteries can die or he could be somewhere he couldn’t bring his phone, but on top of everything else…”

  My free hand rose to my chest with the urge to fidget with my necklace—the one Professor Burnbuck had right now. “What exactly do you all think his family would do to him?”

  “When it comes to Baron Nightwood? Who knows?” Jude muttered. “My dad is fucking terrified of him.”

  Declan made a face. “It’s hard to say. Malcolm’s never gone against him even in small ways that I’m aware of. The Nightwoods could be pretty harsh simply over a mistake or expectations not quite met.” He hesitated. “I don’t know if the rest of you ever noticed the little bruises and other minor injuries—Malcolm’s always been pretty careful about covering them up.”

  My chest clenched with the memory of a day a few months ago when I’d stumbled on Malcolm at a time he’d thought he was alone. I’d seen a burn mark on the back of his shoulder in the few seconds before he’d noticed I was here—he’d gotten awfully defensive about it when I’d asked if he was okay. Had his father done that to him, purposefully?

  Had his father done that a lot?

  Jude’s mouth had tightened. “You’re the Insight man, so you’d pick up more than we would. But yeah, there’ve been a few times I caught a hint of an illusion on him and saw it slip a bit…”

  Connar looked horrified. He’d told me Malcolm was the scion he’d considered his closest friend, the one who’d stood by him without any judgment. “After what he did at the hearing… his dad would come down on him a hundred times worse, wouldn’t he?”

  I swallowed hard. What he’d done at the hearing had been all for me. Malcolm must have known punishment would come, too.

  Why hadn’
t I insisted he come with the rest of us when we’d left the hearing? I’d been so worn out from the stress leading up to it and overwhelmed by relief. Fuck.

  “That’s why I think it might be a good idea to check on him,” Declan said. “I’m assuming he’s at the main Nightwood residence in Connecticut. It’s only a couple hours’ drive. I can’t imagine we have to worry about whether he’s alive, considering how long his father has been grooming him as heir, but if he doesn’t turn up soon, we could at least make sure he is there and see if there’s anything we can do to help. He’d do the same for any of us.”

  “Yes, he would.” Connar stood up. “Why don’t we go now?”

  “Baron Nightwood isn’t going to be pleased about the bunch of us showing up on his doorstep demanding access,” Jude pointed out.

  “And at this point, by the time we got out there, it’d be the end of the day.” Declan motioned vaguely toward the door. “His parents will probably be home. If it’s bad, they won’t want us to talk to him. And maybe it’s not that serious and he’ll be back tonight. I think, given the present tensions within the pentacle of barons and between us and them, it’s best if we take a careful approach, or we could bring even more anger down on him.”

  Connar sank back down. “That’s true.”

  “I know his dad has appointments tomorrow,” Declan went on. “I’ll be the least conspicuous coming by since I have professional connections to both Nightwoods. I thought I’d drive out with one of you, and I’ll distract the staff while whoever’s with me sneaks off to find and talk to Malcolm. Any of us has enough magical ability to avoid the household employees.”

  “I’ll go with you,” I said before anyone else had a chance to speak. When both Jude and Connar turned to blink at me, I barreled on. “If his dad has messed him up, it’s because Malcolm stood up for me. I owe him for that. And my only class tomorrow is late in the afternoon, so it won’t be obvious to anyone around here that I took off for the day as long as we’re back on time.”

  If taking my side had cost Malcolm badly, I should have to face that. I should offer him whatever I could to help him through.

  “Are you sure?” Jude said. “If his dad finds out you came sneaking around his property…”

  I shrugged. “Baron Nightwood already hates me and wants me stripped of my magic. I don’t think he can get any more hostile than he’s already been.”

  “All right,” Declan said. “Let’s consider it settled. Meet me at the garage at nine, and we should be able to get back from the trip with plenty of time to spare.” He studied me. “What was it you wanted to talk to us about?”

  For a little while, I’d almost forgotten my conversation with Lillian. Now it rushed back to me with stomach-knotting vividness.

  I wet my lips. “Well, there’s two things. The blacksuit who’s reached out to me as a family friend, Lillian Ravenguard? I’m pretty sure she’s the one who killed Imogen.” I couldn’t tell them I was completely sure without revealing that I knew from Deborah—and how far from just a mouse Deborah was.

  Connar sucked in a rough breath. I held up my hand. “That’s not the biggest news. She came to talk to me today because she thinks… there’s a chance my mother might still be alive and in joymancer custody.”

  Jude’s jaw dropped. “What the hell?”

  “That was my first response too,” I said with a weak smile, and repeated what Lillian had been able to tell me. “So it’s not definite,” I finished. “I’ll let you know whether they’re able to confirm anything after they do these ceremonies. I don’t even know what to think—what would happen with, well, everything if she came back.”

  Silence hung over the four of us for a moment. We’d just finished talking about how cruel fearmancer parents, especially barons, could be. I had no idea what kind of mother Baron Bloodstone would have shown herself as if she’d had me in her life for more than two years. I had no idea how she’d fit in with the other barons after all this time or how she’d respond to the way they’d turned on me.

  “It would shake up the pentacle, that much we could count on,” Declan said. “Exactly how… We can’t know until we come to that. I suppose all you can do is take it one step at a time and see.”

  “Yeah,” I said quietly. And hope that whatever upheaval followed, it’d shake up in my favor rather than against me.

  Chapter Three

  Jude

  I turned the glass charm over in my hand, murmuring a casting word here and there to test the spell bound through its shape. The magic Professor Burnbuck had imbued the material with involved several complex strands, not all of which I could have wound together myself, but nothing that set off any concerns.

  I gave the charm another onceover just to be safe, because it was Rory’s security I was evaluating here, and then handed the necklace back to its owner. “I don’t sense any hostile or harmful spells, or anything that would activate an illusion of its own. As far as I can tell, it’ll do exactly what the professor said it would.”

  Rory sighed in relief where she was sitting next to me on the steps outside Killbrook Hall and fastened the necklace around her neck. “Good. I didn’t want to think he’d try to screw me over too, but the way things have been going…”

  “Yeah. I fully approve of your instinct for caution.”

  She smiled and leaned into me, and I happily slipped my arm around her waist to complete the embrace. When I turned to kiss the top of her head, the sweet smell of her hair filled my nose. We’d met early enough in the morning that only a few students were meandering around the university grounds, not that I cared who saw us anyway. I couldn’t really have made my interest in the Bloodstone scion any clearer over the last few months.

  The sky overhead was brilliant blue except for a few streaks of cloud, but the coolness in the breeze said fall was basically here, even if the calendar didn’t agree quite yet. The trees in the forest that separated campus from the nearby town hadn’t started changing color yet, but I could practically taste the shift in the air. That was my favorite time of year here: when the leaves turned into a riot of vividness that even an illusionist would find it difficult to top.

  “I have to go meet Declan soon,” Rory said without moving.

  “I know. I’m going to enjoy your company for the little time I have with you this morning.”

  I stroked my fingers over her hair, and she raised her head, and then there really wasn’t anything I could do except kiss her. My fingers dropped to her cheek. Her mouth met mine, warm and soft and so eagerly that for a moment I wished I could just drown in her. Why did anything in the world have to matter other than this girl?

  But that kind of thinking wasn’t going to help me now that I was basically on my own. Turning Rory into some kind of hedonistic escape wasn’t what she deserved either. I’d spent most of my first year here on campus drowning myself in alcohol to try to numb myself to the constant reminders of what a fraud I was, and that hadn’t led anywhere good. I wasn’t going to turn the only girl I’d ever loved into a vice.

  Even though I’d have liked to at least keep kissing her, I drew back after I’d sated the most immediate urge, because I had important things I hadn’t said yet.

  “You’ll be careful out there?” I said, keeping my hand against her cheek. “I know Declan’s sure that the old man won’t be around, but if Baron Nightwood thinks he can take a strike at you on his own property with no one nearby to witness it…”

  I was a little worried about Malcolm and his unusual absence too, of course, but he’d known what he was getting into when he’d gone against his dad. Rory couldn’t, not really. Even after everything she’d seen, everything the barons and their allies had done to her, I didn’t think she could fully comprehend how far someone like Baron Nightwood might go to get his way.

  “I’m not going to be taking any unnecessary risks,” she said. “I don’t want to have to face Malcolm’s dad any more than you’d want that to happen. I’ll go straight to Malcolm
’s room, look around a little more if I can’t find him there, and then get back out again. Quick and simple.”

  She mentioned Malcolm’s name calmly enough, but I’d seen her face when we’d been talking about what he might have endured at his father’s hands yesterday. I’d seen the way they’d looked at each other a few days ago when I’d interrupted their conversation in the scion lounge. In between the glowers and the verbal challenges, there’d been a hell of a lot of heat, and not generated by the anger it might have been due to just last term.

  I was hardly surprised to see sparks fly. Malcolm had made his interest in Rory clear in the first few weeks she’d been on campus. And now that he’d gotten his head out of his ass and started treating her with the respect and consideration she deserved, why shouldn’t she soften to him too? Even if she was starting to see him as some kind of prospect, she’d told him in no uncertain terms that she wasn’t going to break things off with me to appease him—and then minutes later shown him just how little she’d let him order her around in a statement I’d very much enjoyed.

  So I shouldn’t have been worried about it. I’d already accepted that she had something going with Connar too. She wasn’t like any fearmancer girl any of us had ever encountered—how could she be, with the way she’d been raised? So, why wouldn’t she bring out something powerful in all of us?

  All the same, some part of me insisted on dredging up the subject.

  “So, you and Malcolm have… sorted out your differences?” I ventured.

  Rory cocked her head at me, obviously reading a whole lot of what I’d restrained myself from saying just from my tone. She smiled crookedly. “I’m not completely sure what’s happening there. There’s been a lot to sort out after everything he put me through, and dealing with the hearing at the same time… But I meant what I said to him. Maybe he and I can get to the point where we have something like I have with you, but not if he tries to insist I can’t be with anyone else. I’m not throwing what we have away.”