“I told you the lady was crazy,” he said.
“What does that door in the entrance lead to?”
“A similar library, but that one is off-limits. It belongs to the current board. Only they have a key to it.”
“What’s Nolan’s major?”
“Art history. His family deals art.” Logan looked over at me. “Why?”
“I was trying to find a connection between all of us. You and I are business and journalism, so that makes sense. What’s Marcus’s?”
“Accounting, with a minor in art.”
“Another art dealer?”
“Yeah.”
“What about Nora?”
“Political science. I think she just got into grad school.”
“So politician, art dealers, and journalists?” I frowned. “My dad is a media mogul, as are my two older brothers, but they all studied business.”
“Business is our connection, Amelia. And the fact that we all have extremely promising futures. Some because of who their parents are and others, like me, because of my career.”
“In hockey?”
“Sports in general. I play hockey, but I’m not just a hockey player,” he said. “The same way Michael Jordan and Lebron James and Dwayne Wade aren’t just basketball players.”
“That makes sense.”
“You ready now?” he nodded towards the winding staircase in front of us.
“I’m ready.” I smiled, but as I walked down I thought about the secret passageway itself.
Had my father brought Lana in and out of here like this? What about the other girls she’d mentioned he’d been with? He told me he had only had a mentoring relationship with her. I needed to either believe him and back him up or not believe him and . . . and what? Lana was gone and there was nothing I could do about it. God. I wished my brother would wake up already. I needed him here. My stomach growled as we reached the end of the stairs.
“We’ll get breakfast soon, I swear,” Logan said, opening a door that led outside. “This is the garden.”
Unlike the grandiosity of the castle, this was the smallest garden I’d ever seen. The grass had been completely covered with bricks, as if to not let anything grow. There were a few tails of weeds that seeped through, but that was it. The magnificent thing about it was that it was outside, yet somehow tucked between the castle walls and those castle walls were covered in ivy. In the middle of it was a lamppost, which was currently turned off. It was an oddly charming secret garden. I turned to Logan, who was leaning against the only spot not yet covered in ivy. He was watching me with an expression I couldn’t quite understand. It wasn’t lust. It wasn’t amusement or curiosity. The potential of what it could be held me captive.
“I like it,” I said. “There’s minimal upkeep.”
“Which is why we like it.” He smiled. “Come on, let’s go have breakfast. I’m starving.”
He took my hand in his as we walked back inside the house, to one of the common areas that had long tables. There were pastries set up—donuts, bagels, croissants, and coffee boxes. Nolan was sitting in there, talking to Marcus and a pretty girl with beautiful pale skin and short, brown curly hair. She smiled as we walked in, her eyes on our held hands. I wondered if she’d been his partner last year. I didn’t know how partners worked exactly, but for some reason, I was dying to know. Maybe it was the blood oath that did it for me. Maybe it was the fact that my feelings for him were so big they threatened to take over everything else. Maybe it was because last night had been magical or because everything he said to me held promises I so desperately wanted.
We both served ourselves things in the plastic plates provided. I got one donut. Logan got five stacked up. We poured coffees into to-go cups and walked over to where they were sitting.
“I’m Nora,” she said as I sat down.
“Amelia.” I smiled. “But you already knew that.”
“I did. Not to say I’m not curious about the girl who finally made Logan take a blood oath.” She grinned at whatever look Logan was giving her. “Oh, this is cute. She doesn’t know?”
“Nora.” It was a warning.
“He doesn’t even like the word blood,” Marcus said laughing.
“He’s having breakfast. Leave him the fuck alone,” Nolan said, scowling.
“You don’t like blood?” my attention whipped in his direction. He cringed. “But . . . you’re always bleeding. You play hockey, for God’s sake. Not to mention, get in a lot of fistfights.”
“Ironic, I know,” he mumbled.
“More than ironic. It’s plain weird.” I laughed, taking a bite of my donut and chewing. I licked my lips, looking at Nora again. “So he’d never done an oath? How is he here?”
“He had to scale the waterfall by the old Lab. Twice. They told him they’d give him until this year to participate in the oath, which is insane, if you ask me. We didn’t have a choice in the matter.” She rolled her eyes.
“What about his partner last year?”
Nora glanced at Logan and back at me. I could tell she was hesitant about saying anything without his permission, which was crazy since she’d dished out the blood thing with so much enthusiasm.
“His partner last year was only his partner for like a second,” Nolan said. “She was recruited by the Swords before she was initiated here.”
“Swords?” My eyes widened. “There’s a third society?”
“There are probably about five different ones in this university,” Marcus said. “But they’re not very secretive. Only ours and The Swords are.”
“The Swords are the red cloaks,” Logan said beside me. I looked over at him. He was already on his fourth donut.
“Swords,” I repeated, thinking about their red cloaks and the graves they dug. “It makes sense for a medical secret society.”
“Swords and snakes. Definitely apt for them,” Nora said distastefully.
“So they can do that? Recruit from here? Isn’t that against the rules?”
“In The Eight’s Creed, yes. Not in theirs.”
“So she just left? And you just let her?” I asked.
“Well, we kind of had to. It was either that or she’d expose us. She was a little upset because Logan didn’t want to settle down,” Nora said.
“No, she was upset because Logan treated her like shit,” Marcus added.
“She felt like he’d fucked her and discarded her,” Nolan said.
I couldn’t help my flinch.
“Can we stop discussing my sex life?” Logan asked. “None of you know what really happened. Savannah was crazy. We fucked once and she was already planning our wedding.”
“Not unlike some people I know.” My gaze snapped to his. The room filled with gasps and oo’s and aa’s I didn’t care that I was calling him out in front of his friends. In that moment, I felt betrayed. If her night with him had been anything like ours . . . I felt sick at the mere thought of that.
“It’s different.” Logan kept his eyes on me, donuts forgotten. He looked as pissed as I felt. “You’re different. We’re different. And I’m not going to explain myself in front of a guy who can’t even say the word relationship without wanting to throw up, one who breaks up with every girl he finds because she’s not perfect enough, and a girl who can’t make her mind up as to what team she bats for long enough to entertain the idea of settling down.”