“Focus on the road,Viscount.”
His smirk stays, though, and it warms me more than the vents.
We drive in silence for a while, watching the winter light die across the fields. The horizon bruises into dusk. Somewhere ahead, a hawk dives.
A buzz interrupts me just as I was about to make a move.
Scout
Rowan Greaves died of an overdose. Not sure if he’s the one who gave Julien the drugs.
Me
No. It wasn’t him. He took the pills…to be with Julien.
Thoughts of torturing Aiden with my mouth flutter to the back of my mind. “Rowan died from his overdose. He didn’t kill Julien. There’s no way. He loved him. I’m still hung up on Gray and how weird he was. Not to mention, he was closest to Julien that night.”
“Grayson Noel Umbridge.” Aiden’s forehead furrows as his light eyes grow dark. “G.N.U.” The muscle in the back of his jaw flexes.
“Huh?”
“I think that guy may betheguy… And notjusta man whomurdered Julien. Dean Twinston was pivoting university funds to a ‘GNU’ labeled account. He could be the one who has been murderingthem all.” His entire body stiffens.
I stare out at the frozen forest, blurring past. “Julien’s lungs. That girl on Massacre Monday, her brain. My sisters from Terror Tuesday—” I swallow hard.
“It’s like he’scollecting,” Aiden mutters.
“Grayson Noel Umbrige…Why?” I ponder.
He shakes his head. “No idea. Ritual?”
“We sound like conspiracy theorists.”
“Maybe it is a conspiracy. What if the new president’s involved in this…”
“You mean, Gray is apresidentialasset sent to harvest people’s insides? Is he gettingpaidfor the organs?”
A sharp sigh parts his lips. “Could be. Or they could besacrifices...”
The thought stuns me. “Sacrifices? Like to…Caliphyllaand such?”
“Yeah. To the gods. Which I knew about, but maybe… New moon! There’s no god for that one.”
Something cold crawls up my spine. The heater doesn’t help. I reach for his hand without thinking, threading our fingers together.
“What do you mean by that?”
“There’s a god for every moon phase, but not new moon. What if this is a sacrifice to the god of the new moon. One they don’t speak of…”
“So because of the gods and the phases of the moon, you think the university is behind the organ harvesting?”
I look at him—the set of his mouth, the steady focus in those crystal eyes. There’s something ancient in his calm, something that says he’ll burn the world down if it means keeping me breathing.
He smirks faintly. “Best way for me to find out is to play President Damon’s game.”
“How?”
“By continuing my plan to join the committees. Work to overthrow them from the inside.”