I frown at him. “What are you talking about?”
“Why was Cosgrave hanging around her without knowing they were matches? He’s never done more than heckle her here and there before now, as far as I remember.”
I still don’t see where he’s going with this. “Are you sayingmaybe he already knew? How could he? If she’d sparked with him, we’d all have known then.”
“I realize that,” Cole says, his expression grim. “But the size of the coincidence: him being there when she was attacked, her happening to spark his glim right when it could save them… And the poisoning… And why was she really wandering around in the middle of the night?”
“You don’t believe her that she just wanted to get out of the house? And what’s bothering you about the poisoning?”
Cole shakes his head. “Something’s off. That’s all I’m sure of. Even you—you started paying more attention to her recently. She’s never caught your eye before, has she?”
“I knew who shewas. And you’re the one who put us together for that Divination exercise.”
If I’m telling the truth, Elodie first snagged my attention a few weeks ago. When I was crossing the main academy green, and I saw her standing there staring at me like her world was ending.
It was kind of odd. But it didn’t look like she was in control of her reaction, let alone consciously scheming the way Cole seems to be implying.
“It could all be tied together, couldn’t it?” I point out. “Something changed in her life that put her under threat and made her act differently, and we all noticed.”
“She hasn’t been particularly forthcoming about what those changes are to help us sort through the problem, has she?”
I slump lower in my seat. “I don’t know. When you’re facing regular murder attempts, maybe you’re a little hesitant to totally trust people. Even your matches.”
Cole makes a dismissive noise. “It’s more than that. I can’t pinpoint it yet, but I will.”
The conviction in his tone sets off a wobble through my pulse.
I study him again, searching for answers or at leastreassurance in the planes of the face I know better than my own. “What are you going to do?”
“You don’t need to worry about it. Focus on your schoolwork and not on her until we get to the bottom of all this.”
I can’t quite let the subject drop. “You’re not going to do anything that could put her in more danger, are you?”
“I’m going to keep my eyes open and put together the pieces I find. If she hasn’t done anything wrong, it won’t hurt her.”
His answer doesn’t comfort me the way I’d like.
I keep watching him through the sliding beams of the streetlamps we pass. Cole’s been the only person I’ve been able to rely on for most of my life. I owe almost everything I have to him.
I might not be able to tell him about every goal and plan I’ve formed, but I’ve always known I can count on him when it matters.
Now, for the first time in my life, I’m struck by the sense that I don’t believe him.
But how can I make sure Elodie gets through the next days unscathed when I don’t even know what he’s plotting… or why she’s gotten so under his skin?
Four
Elodie
I’ve always envied Salvatore’s casual bravado. He strolls along the streets lined with stately manors and expansive gardens with his head high and one arm hooked around mine, as if there’s no reason at all the heir to two criminal syndicates shouldn’t belong here. No reason he shouldn’t belong with me.
For all his confidence, he’s far from stupid. Just before we reach the house that’s now mine, he stops us in a patch of shadow and looks me over. “Can you get back to your room okay? You wore out your regular magic. If you need any help…”
I arch an eyebrow with a wryness I don’t totally feel. “You’ll conjure me a staircase to my window?”
“I could if you wanted.” He grins, a flash of teeth against his tan skin that still makes my heart skip a beat after all these years. Even though he isn’t the man who used to offer me that grin.
Lakshmi help me, I’ve really thrown myself into a muddle, haven’t I?