I shuddered. Anastasia had once mentioned that Moldoveanu enjoyed adding gamelike elements to the assessment courses. Though I didn’t believe that included murdering hopeful students or his beloved ward. No matter if castle gossip led one to believe he was out for blood during this trial. I’d seen Moldoveanu’s expression of true devastation after Anastasia’s body had been recovered.

Thomas sighed. “I don’t suppose you’ll be satisfied with staying in and playing a round of chess until the royal guards run this lead down, will you?” I slowly shook my head. “Very well, then. What do you have in mind?”

I left a note on my settee addressed to the headmaster, fearing it might be the very thing that prevented us from obtaining those two prized spots. I ignored the tinge of regret. For all I knew, if we stopped this murderer, we might all be granted admission to the academy. One thing I was certain of: If we didn’t make it back tonight, I wanted to make sure Moldoveanu would know where to find us. Before expelling us for good.

I motioned for Thomas to be quiet. “We’re going vampire hunting, Cresswell.”

We crept down the tower stairs and managed to make it all the way to the servants’ corridor before spotting a patrol. They marched down the main hall, noisily making their way toward us, creaking leather and weapons loud enough to alert the dead of their presence. I yanked Thomas into an alcove hidden by a tapestry. As long as they didn’t shine a lantern or glance too hard behind the artwork, we’d be fine. I hoped.

I shifted in the small nook, realizing just how small a space it was for one person, let alone two. The warmth of Thomas’s body was distracting in ways I hadn’t imagined possible, especially while hunting the Impaler or the Order or whoever was truly behind these deaths.

Part of me wished to leave this mission to the royal guard and take advantage of the position we were in. Similar thoughts appeared to be running through Thomas’s mind; the column of his throat bobbed a bit more than usual as he pressed closer to me. Footsteps grew louder in the corridor, the tread as heavy as the charge building between us.

Thomas angled his face toward mine, our breath coming in quiet bursts. In fear or longing, I couldn’t discern. Perhaps he was fabricating an excuse for us to be in the hallway if we were discovered. Or perhaps he wished to close the remaining distance as much as I wanted to.

His eyes fluttered shut, and the desire I’d seen in them was enough to undo me right there. I lifted my face, allowing the slightest, briefest contact between our lips. It was nothing more than a shadow of a kiss, but it ignited a fire throughout my body. Thomas’s breath hitched loud enough to still my heart, his entire body going rigid, when the guards’ footsteps abruptly halted.

The guards paused not far from where we were nestled together, their quiet chatter ceasing. Without making a sound, Thomas closed the distance between our bodies. Every inch of him touched me as he hid my form with his, sheltering me from view.

We stayed like that, caught between the wall and the guards, barely breathing. I could scarcely think straight. Logic took a holiday and didn’t bother returning. I fought every irrational urge I had and kept my hands pinned to my sides rather than sliding over him.

After a decade seemingly passed, the guards continued down the corridor. Neither Thomas nor I moved. Heat radiated from us in ways that made me think the most indecent thoughts I’d ever considered before. Gone was the girl who’d blushed at the mere thought of expressing her passion.

Lord help me, I wanted this case to be over soon. If I didn’t kiss Thomas, I might very well combust to ashes. Aunt Amelia would have been appalled by my sinful actions, but I didn’t rightly care. If romance wasn’t a distraction we could ill afford, I’d live in the rush of this moment for all eternity. Even with those rational thoughts swirling about my head, I still experienced great difficulty breaking our contact.

Finally, Thomas moved enough to whisper into my ear, his lips trailing along my jawline. “You are most certainly going to be the death of my dignity, Wadsworth.”

I smiled sweetly, allowing myself a moment to collect my breath. “That perished a long while ago, my friend. Come, we’ve got to move quickly before they double back.” And before I decided against forensics and sleuthing and spent the rest of the evening kissing him in a deserted hallway while a murderer was prowling about. An amused grin lit Thomas’s face, and I realized he’d been whispering. “What?”

“What on earth were you just thinking about? I said, dear Wadsworth, that you appear as if someone had laid a tray of sweets before you. Perhaps”—he dipped his mouth tantalizingly close to my own—“I might offer you a treat before we leave?”

“Tempting.” I ducked beneath his arms and shot a look over my shoulder, thoroughly enjoying the way his gaze tracked each of my movements. “Unfortunately I must decline for now. We have a clandestine meeting in the secret tunnels.”

Thomas sighed. “I rather enjoyed my suggestion more.”

If one had believed in forces greater than those on earth, then it was possible someone from a better place had been watching out for us. We didn’t encounter any other guards and slipped into the basement morgue without a hitch. I ran to a cabinet and rummaged through it until I found a few supplies. A lantern, scalpel, and cranium hammer.

“I’ve been thinking,” I whispered as Thomas lifted the trapdoor leading to the tunnels.

He paused, arms stretched above his head, and inspected me. A smile toyed with the edges of his mouth, though he was clearly trying to quell it. “Always a dangerous pastime for you, Wadsworth.”

“Hilarious, as always,” I said. “However, I believe maybe Prince Nicolae is whom we’re hunting. Ileana just doesn’t… I don’t know—it doesn’t sit right. I cannot imagine her impaling anyone or draining their blood with a mortuary apparatus. Besides, I saw the way she looked at your sister. There’s no hiding that sort of love. Nicolae, however.” I lifted a shoulder. “He was in possession of those drawings, including those of bats. He had the opportunity to send threats to the royal family. And… I’ve been meaning to share something else he’s done.”

“Will I wish to kill him?” Thomas raised a brow. “Nicolae didn’t profess his undying love, did he? Although,” he continued slowly, dropping the trapdoor back in place, “a healthy bit of competition never hurt anyone, I suppose.”

“There were… illustrations of me in his journal. He’d made me into something terrifying. Almost as if he thought of me as a vampire.”

“Why is this the first time you’re mentioning this?” Thomas’s voice was a bit too quiet, his tone no longer laced with his earlier levity. “If you don’t confide in me, Wadsworth, how am I supposed to assist? We’re partners.” He paced around the room, hands tapping wildly at his sides. “I told you, I cannot help deduce when facts are obscured from me. I’m not a magician.” He stopped moving and took a few deep breaths before meeting my gaze. “What else?”

I inhaled deeply. “Prince Nicolae knows forensics and had access to each victim—plus the threat just left in my chambers mentioning a she. I do not believe it refers to me.”

Thomas hefted the door open again and motioned me toward the stairs. “Are you suggesting we’re about to find my sister and her lover impaled in these tunnels?”

Though his tone was carefully composed and his comment brash, I heard the underlying worry. No matter how cold and clinical he could be in the laboratory, relaying the devastating news of Daciana’s death to his family would be an unbearable task for him. I stepped closer and squeezed his arm gently. “I’m saying to prepare yourself for the worst. I might be wrong.”

As I took up the lantern and cautiously picked my way down the stairs, I thought I heard him mutter, “I fear you may be right.”

A large barbary spider with her young in her web.

SECRET PASSAGE

PASAJ SECRET

BRAN CASTLE

22 DECEMBER 1888

“To be clear. When you’d invited me on ‘an adventurous evening,’ this wasn’t how I imagined it going, Wadsworth.”

Thomas plucked a cobweb off his frock coat, mouth puckered at the stickiness clinging to his fingers. We’d made wonderful time, traversing quickly through the tunnels we’d already been in. Now we were standing before the first clue. Or at least I believed that’s what it was. Thomas fidgeted beside me.

“If we’re all being hunted by some highly creative murderer, we might as well enjoy our last moments alive,” he continued. “Might I offer a few alternatives to spiders and dingy tunnels? Perhaps drinking too much wine. A warm fire. Inappropriate flirtations.”

I held the lantern away from my body, gaze gliding across the darkness as I spun in place. Shadows shifted obediently around the beam of light.

“Amazing,” I said.

“I thought so as well. Though it’s nice to hear you agree with some of my suggestions for once.”

“I meant this. There’s a door here.” I squinted at the black letters on it, chipped with age. I was certain we were on the path to discovering where the Impaler or Order was dwelling. “There’s… is that Latin burned into the wood?”

“It is. A cross was burned into the other chamber. Seems we’re on the right path, then.” Drifting forward, Thomas nibbled his bottom lip as he read the words on the door. “Lycosa singoriensis. That sounds… familiar.”

A soft crunch of pebbles nearby made us tense for battle. I held on to the scalpel, and Thomas was armed with the hammer used to crack open craniums. It was the best we could do.

“Did you hear that?” Thomas whispered, shifting so that he was beside me.

I twisted the knob on the lantern, the hiss of gas spluttering out at the same time the flame did. I blinked, though that hardly made a difference. Without the light, the tunnel was practically a solid wall of black pressing down on us. Something twisted in my chest, nearly choking the breath from me. I pretended it was the blue-velvet night sky and I was cushioned on a cloud. Otherwise I’d start imagining being buried beneath the stone and I’d perish on the spot. The sound grew louder and was coming from the tunnel we’d just vacated.