Bloodline Secrecy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 2), Lan Chan [readict TXT] 📗

Durin was being revived. Forty minutes later he came staggering in with my demon blade. It was a bad idea to go for the blade, but I didn’t care.

I held my hand out for it. To my surprise Durin handed it over to me without so much as a roar. When I glanced into his black eyes, I knew why.

“You saw her,” I said.

His chest rumbled. Yolanda stepped up to him and laid her head on his shoulder. His palm came down to rest on the nape of her neck. His other hand splayed on her belly. I had a feeling I knew why she hadn’t been present at the banquet.

“I saw whatever it was that was in there,” Durin said. “Whether or not it’s one of those assassins is another matter altogether.”

“Either way Alessia didn’t do anything wrong,” Nora said.

“Aye.” Durin glanced at me. “I knew from the moment I laid eyes on you that there would be trouble.”

To be fair, I was in a very foul mood when I’d first been brought to the Council. Nora cleared her throat. Durin grumbled.

“Is that all you can think about right now?” he said.

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Now more than ever I am convinced that humans need representation. If Alessia didn’t have...” She trailed off and tried to avoid looking in Kai’s direction. Subtle. “We want a low-magic user on the Council. So what’s it going to be?”

Durin hugged Yolanda to him. “It’s not going to be an easy campaign,” he said. “You’ll have the support of me and mine. The para-humans may be persuaded too. But the others will fight you on it.”

Nora shrugged. “Do we have an agreement?”

She clapped her hands when Durin nodded. Way to use the situation to her advantage. I had a feeling she would make a great political figurehead. I wrapped my arms around myself as I glanced again at the shadowed mist I’d drawn.

As if dealing with the devil wasn’t bad enough. Now I had to contend with the idea that there were supernatural assassins out there.

“We can’t let this get out into the population,” Durin said. “It’ll cause a mass panic.”

“We can’t keep them in the dark, either,” Kai countered.

“Until we can figure out why the Sisterhood have re-emerged and why they went after Durin, we don’t have any information to give,” Yolanda said.

“I don’t think Alessia needs to hear this,” Mani said. Nora agreed. “We’re going to take her home.”

“I’ll escort you,” Astrid said.

My back went rigid. Nora came to my aid. “There’s no need,” she said. “We’ll only be portaling directly to the Academy. And I’ll pick up my daughter on the way. I’m sure Max won’t let anything happen to us.”

I would be forever grateful for not having to deal with Astrid. Nora knew it too. As soon as we were out of earshot, she leaned down and whispered in my ear. “I’m going to assume you and Sophie will be more than happy to assist with the campaign.”

I didn’t have time to say anything because we’d reached the bridge walkway where Sophie and Max were waiting for us.

“Oh thank Gaia!” Sophie said. She ran up and wrapped her arms around me. I was just sinking into the warmth of it when she shifted. Grabbing me in a headlock, she ruffled my hair.

“Hey!”

“Can’t I take you anywhere?” she asked. “I can’t believe you tried to kill Durin!”

“Get off, Soph!”

“Girls,” Nora admonished.

When she freed me, I patted down my hair. “I didn’t do it on purpose!”

“I hope you’re not like this during the Halloween Showcase,” she said.

“The what now?”

Max cleared his throat. “The portal is already open,” he said. “You both need to get back to the Academy. You have classes starting the day after tomorrow.”

I almost got frostbite from his tone. There was a grim set to his shoulders, his chest expanding slowly like he was trying to keep himself calm.

“Sir, yes sir!” I saluted. His brow twitched. “I would like to point out, sir, that you’re not my House Captain.”

“You wanna see what Kai has to say about it?”

I flinched. Clearly I hadn’t thought this through. I shrugged, feigning nonchalance. “Who cares what he says. He’s busy flapping around with Astrid.”

This time his mouth tugged into a grin. Some of the tension eased from his shoulders. I thought I heard Sophie sigh. Max shook his head. “Bloody females,” he said as he led us through the maze of bridges. “Who knows what crazy shit goes on in your heads half the time?”

I was about to take exception when Sophie latched on to me and covered my mouth with her hand. She gave me her best are you insane look. I rolled my eyes and indicated that I would be good. Still, she only released me when we made it to the portal.

“We’re going to get ourselves setup in the apartment,” Nora said. “Come and visit on the weekend. We’ll talk strategy.”

“We can’t just leave campus whenever we want, Mama! The next holiday isn’t until Halloween.”

“I’ll see if I can speak to Headmistress Pendragon about special dispensation.”

She gave both of us a hug. My throat locked. It had only been three weeks, but I had gotten used to having a mother figure around. I could see the immense relief on Sophie’s face, though.

I didn’t want to let go when Mani hugged me. Having a mum was great. But I’d never had a male figure in my life before. Basil not included.

“Be good,” he told us. After they were gone, Max turned on us.

“Straight to the dorm,” he said.

Sophie shoved me through the portal when I opened my mouth. I tripped over on the other side onto the grass in the field. It was dark outside now so that I could barely see in front of myself.

“Ow!”

“Serves you right!” Sophie said as she appeared beside me. “What were you thinking mouthing off to a shifter right after something like that happened?”

“What? He seemed okay.”

She pursed her lips. “You