Chapter 38 Dante
The last person I expected to find on the other side, when we heard a knock at our door, was Bechora. Certain I was imagining things, I blinked dumbly and rubbed my eyes.
“Are you going to let me in or what?” she snapped.
I blinked again before stepping back. “Come in.”
She brushed past me, rolling her eyes. I closed the door and followed her over to the couch, where Vallynn sat, staring at her as if he wasn’t sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him either.
“We need to talk,” she said, plopping down into the recliner opposite the couch.
“I’m glad you said that, Red,” I smiled. “You’ve been avoiding us again, and we were hoping to talk to you, too.”
She cut her eyes at me and scowled. “I’m not here to talk about us .” The way she said it made me flinch. “I’m here to learn what I can about Daena and her connections to your”—she pointed at Vallyn—“father.”
His brows furrowed in confusion. “She doesn’t have a connection to my father.”
“That’s not what I’ve heard,” Bechora insisted, crossing her arms over her chest. “The way I hear it, her father is pretty close to yours.”
“Well, yes,” he ran a hand through the longer strands of his hair. “But that’s got nothing to do with her outside of the betrothal. Which I ended, as you know.”
“What’s going on, Red?” I asked, moving to sit at the other end of the couch from Vallynn. “Why are you asking about Daena’s connection to the king all of a sudden?”
“I think she’s connected to the disappearances on campus, and the more I think about the list we found in the Dean’s office, the less I think it’s a coincidence that they’ve gone missing. I don’t think we’re dealing with two different problems here.”
“You think they’re all connected,” I said, a statement rather than a question.
“It would make sense with everything we know. The abilities noted on the Dean’s list do align with the missing supes throughout the realm that we know the king is responsible for.
Maybe he decided it’s easier to do whatever it is he’s doing, with students who haven’t completely got control of their abilities. ”
Bechora’s eyes snapped to mine, shock painting her face like she couldn’t believe I’d made that connection. “That’s the conclusion I came to.”
“How does Daena factor into this?” Vallynn asked, leaning forward to rest his arms on his thighs.
Bechora pursed her lips, and I could tell from her expression, she was deciding just how much to share with us.
After a second, she nodded to herself; decision made.
“Geordie sent a note to another student, telling them to tell me about their roommate going missing last month, after we’d already found the Dean’s list. I was told that Daena had threatened to make the roommate disappear days before she did. ”
“It could just be coincidence,” Vallynn replied.
“Sure,” she shrugged. “But if it was, I doubt my brother would send that note. No,” she shook her head. “It's connected, which means your ex is involved.”
Vallynn visibly flinched at that, but didn’t respond.
We lapsed into silence, and my mind worked through this new information.
It didn’t make any sense to me that Oscoercy would use Daena to take a student, when it was clear the Dean was already involved in helping with his dirty work.
The thought nagged at me, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that this meant something else.
Something we weren’t considering. An idea formed in my mind, and I latched onto it.
“How do you feel about a little field trip, Red?” I asked.
“I’d prefer not having to go anywhere with either of you, but if you have an idea that helps us get to the bottom of all this and stop it, I’m game.”
“I’m gonna let that first part slide since you haven’t given us a chance to make up,” I said with a wink. “How about we break into the Dean’s office again. If students are going missing again, the Dean has probably updated her list.”
“Fine. When do you want to do this?” she asked.
I couldn’t help the grin that spread across my lips at how quickly she’d agreed. “Tonight. I figure the sooner the better.”
Bechora chewed on her bottom lip, face scrunched as she considered my suggestion.
After what felt like ages, she blew out a breath and nodded.
“As much as I hate to agree with you, I think you’re right.
I can’t just continue sitting around doing nothing while more and more people go missing from campus. ”
“Perfect,” I clapped my hands together. “We’ll grab you from your dorm after dark.”
She stood from her seat, dropping her arms to her side and strolled toward the door. I couldn’t help but follow behind her. She pulled it open, pausing just at the threshold and glanced over her shoulder at me before sliding her gaze to Vallynn, still sitting on the couch.
“This doesn’t mean I forgive either of you, not even a little bit.”
“Understood, Red,” I replied.
She sighed and shook her head, stepping into the hallway and heading toward the stairs. I watched her until she was out of sight before finally shutting the door. When I turned around, Vallynn was studying me closely.
“Breaking into the Dean’s office again is dangerous,” he said. “Especially without any sort of real planning beforehand.”
“I know, but I also know our mate is smart enough that she would have eventually come up with the idea on her own. At least this way, we’ll be there to have her back if anything goes wrong. Besides, this gives us another opportunity to prove ourselves to her.”
Vallynn scoffed. “She hates us, Dante. After the way we treated her, I can’t say I blame her. No amount of opportunities to prove ourselves is going to change that.”
I shook my head at him. “I don’t believe that. She came to us with this information. Not Caulder, not Zypher… us. That has to mean something.”
“Yeah. It means she thinks Daena has a connection to whatever my father is up to, and she thought I could tell her what it was.”
“Selir, you’re such a pessimist. She really won’t ever forgive you if you keep thinking like that. Me, on the other hand, I’m optimistic I can eventually win her over.”
Vallynn dragged a hand down his face, frustration bleeding into the gesture. “You’re delusional.”
I huffed out a quiet laugh, dropping back onto the couch and stretching my arms across the back as if I didn’t have a care in the world. “Maybe, but I’d rather be delusional than sit here moping about it like you are.”
His gaze snapped to mine, and he narrowed his eyes. “I’m not moping. I’m accepting the reality of the situation we created.”
“Nah, you’re moping. You decided you’ve already lost her for good,” I shot back, my tone losing some of its teasing edge. “And that’s your first mistake.”
Silence stretched between us, thick and uncomfortable.
Vallynn didn’t argue, but the tension in his shoulders didn’t ease either.
He looked away first, jaw tight, eyes growing distant.
I left him to his thoughts while my mind circled around my own.
The idea of Daena’s involvement didn’t sit right.
If the Dean truly was already involved, there was no reason to bring the spoiled harpy into it.
And yet… We’d met Geordie. The fae male was a powerful seer and wouldn’t have sent a letter if things weren’t connected.
At some point, Vallynn and I had returned to our usual evening routine.
Both of us worked on class assignments, though it was clear neither of us was focused on them.
My mind kept shifting between the nagging feeling we were missing something major and our half-thought-out plans for breaking into the Dean’s office after nightfall.
When the light from the window in our dorm's common space finally darkened, I practically leapt to my feet, sending papers flying.
“Selir, Dante!” Vallynn snapped.
“It’s dark out. Time to get our mate and break into the Dean’s office,” I grinned, ignoring the dirty look he shot me as he gathered up his papers from the floor.
“And what exactly is your plan for breaking in without getting caught?” he asked.
“Same as last time. If we hear anyone coming close, I’ll wrap her up like I did before, and you use your shadows to hide us.”
His hand went to his head, fingers rubbing from his temples to his brow. “That could have ended badly the first time, and isn’t something I want to risk a second time,” he said, tone exasperated.
“It’ll be fine,” I grinned, clapping him on the shoulder as he straightened to his full height. “Now, let’s get going before she decides we aren’t gonna show and goes off on her own.”
Vallynn groaned, but followed me from our dorm.
I was practically skipping as I led the way to Bechora’s dorm room.
I probably shouldn’t have been so giddy about breaking into the Dean’s office, again , but anything that meant time with my mate, now that we’d stopped hiding the bond, just did that to me.
Especially after she’d gone back to ignoring us and left Caulder to share anything they found after our first break-in.
When we reached her dorm, I rapped out a rhythmic pattern and waited for her to answer.
The scent of her other mates hit me first when she pulled open the door.
Then, my eyes dropped down to scan over the tight braid she’d pulled her flaming red hair into, the baggy black hooded sweatshirt that reeked of the vampire, and down to the black yoga pants that hugged her curves in a way that made me nearly swallow my tongue.
“Well, you just gonna stand there and gawk at me all night, or are we gonna do this?” she asked, stepping into the hall and shutting the door behind her.
The corner of my mouth tipped up into a smirk. “I seem to recall telling you the first time we met, Red. Nothing wrong with a little gawking between mates.”