“Maybe so, but there’s no way I can stay here while my dad’s out there all alone. Especially knowing what I now know,” I say. “What happened here with Dr. Conner seems to be just a microcosm of what’s happening out there.”

“The school doesn’t involve itself in outside politics,” she says, even though we both know that the situation between her and Conner was completely political. “I’ll just say again that it would be prudent if you made additional alliances here and learned as much as you can before you leave.”

I take a good look at Blackwood. Her hair is pulled as taut as ever, her look as inscrutable as it was on day one, and I now know that her frilly white shirt, spilling out from under her crisp black blazer, is the perfect metaphor for who she is. She’s clearly trying to help me, to tell me what I need to do, but she won’t say it outright.

“Okay,” I reply, even though I’m not sure yet what she means.

Chapter Forty-one

WHEN I FINALLY crack my eyes open, my bedroom curtains are drawn and a candle is lit next to my bed. I’m not all that surprised that I slept through the day. I pull back my covers and inspect the bandages on my arms and legs. There are cuts and bruises all over me. As I step out of bed, I wince.

I walk slowly into the common room, everything aching, but the pain is more manageable than I would have thought. Maybe I’ve just fallen out of so many trees at this point that my body has gotten used to it.

The fire is big and bright and the room feels cozy. But I stop dead in my tracks when I spot Ash and Layla playing cards at the table next to the window.

Layla! She puts down her cards and comes right up to me.

We stand there awkwardly for a second and she looks like she wants to give me a hug but doesn’t know how to approach a gesture like that.

“How long have I been out?” I ask, and my voice has a morning roughness to it.

“It’s just after eight at night,” she says, and starts to lift her arms, but then seems to decide against it and puts them down again.

I would laugh at how awkward she’s being right now, but it would hurt my ribs. “Layla, if you don’t woman up and hug me already, this friendship is off,” I finally say, and lift an eyebrow.

Her smile widens and she carefully wraps her arms around me, like it’s the first hug she’s ever given. She’s about the same size as Emily, and just the thought of Emily and Pembrook makes my heart ache.

“Thank you for saving my stupid brother,” she says into my shoulder.