had finally died down, I wanted to crawl u

escued from the argument. "In three days, everyone will have forgotten. In three weeks

my family

ies and Bloodlines first, in the Hall of Accord. I've got Combat Basics, which means I'll spend the next two hours getting thrown into mud by a

nyo

" She grinned, then hurried o

g wolf. I did not make it

narrow passage lined with portraits whose eyes followed me. I took a right and arrived at a locked iron door humming faintly with something tha

un ar

from the pillar. Her dark hair fell sleek and straight past her shoulders, her uniform was pressed to perfection, and her

he said. "I thought I

e wa

e pushed off the wall and looked me over without apology

Mar

lf the kitchen staff." She sighed as though the whole business were deeply tiresome. "You have two options. Keep wan

r follow yo

in a schola

walked she kept up a low, scathing commentary on everything we passed: the third-years who dyed their hair "to look dangerous," the wolf boys who howled at the moon eve

ce had a strange, brittle quality, like glass stretched too thin, and eve

step. And when we reached the double doors of the Hall of Accord, she paused with her hand

t you said

It's fine." She yanked th

ches curved around a central dais, and students had already filled them in careful clusters. Wolves cluste

empty strip and sat down on a

he vampire side bared her teeth in what might have been a smile. Vee

s

rave," I

a faint flush c

ith iron-gray hair and a coat that billowed like a storm clou

Treaty of Dusk. Who ca

es and vampires shall not cross ea

ct. The

the houses," a v

my unease, seemed to linger on me for half a second longer than anyon

y it had in my kitchen the night I asked my parents abou

lear. "No union between the bloods. Any

ped into the ro

kept her eyes on the dais, but I saw

dden t

forbidden by both our peoples. I had read it a hundred times,

t to the balance. For centuries, the law has protected us from the c

loudly in my ears that I barely heard the rest of the lecture, only fragments o

gripped my notebook so hard that the edge o

ered, pulling

dden. One bead rolled slowly down my finger and fell,

e had gone abs

r dark eyes widened until I could see the red rim of her irises catch the light. Her lips

and over her mouth, as if

asked. "Ar

oat, and then back at my finger again, and every shade of color left her cheeks. She looked, I

lready packing up and fili

voice barely a thread. Her

ait

it down. She pulled her hand away from her mouth, sna

, too lightly, too quickl

gone, her dark hair swinging behind he

n at the bloo

lantern light, glowing faintly gold at its center and deep crimson at