After failing as a vampire hunter, 17-year-old Cleo is sent to an academy full of vampires as a false peace treaty. Her true objective is supposed to be finding the hidden heir to the dark world while befriending the current one, but the current hei...
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Going back to class after everything that happened felt bizarre. Even more bizarre, because I willingly chose to sit next to Claude in every class we had together. None of us had faced any of the students since the Leecher attack, and an amazing number of them wanted to know the details. Suddenly I wasn't interesting because I was a human; I was interesting because I'd fought a Leecher to protect the prince.
I didn't know if the attention was better or worse for me because of that. Fortunately, Claude's presence still repelled the other students, so sticking to him kept too many from straying too close. I didn't like the idea of celebrating killing the Leecher, or seeing the tale as heroic. We almost died. Adora had to kill him to save us. It was horrible.
Although, I didn't think the eyepatch helped. It probably made me look weathered, or something equally as curiosity inducing.
The teachers, on the other hand, didn't care about our clash with the Leecher. They simply piled on more work that we'd missed over the week. At least Ms. Maharaj mercifully offered us after class office hours so she could go over the work we missed, which I jumped on immediately. I'd been too focused on everything else to study diligently, and the grades I'd been shown showed it. Part of the peace treaty agreement was for me to keep up my grades. No matter what else was going on, I still needed to fulfill that role too.
Unfortunately, so did Claude.
So, on Wednesday when I entered the classroom for the supplemental class, Claude was already sitting at one of the desks, posture prim and proper. I nearly dropped my bookbag. "Why are you here?"
"Why do you think I'm here?"
"Shouldn't you know this stuff already?" I asked. "It's your history. Aren't you going to become the king? How will you manage that?"
"Shouldn't you know this stuff already? It's your enemies' history. Aren't you planning to bridge the gap between us and find peace? How will you manage that?" he retorted.
I slowly lowered myself into the seat next to him, hating the expectant look on his face, but not wanting to give into it. "Yeah. Well. Studying isn't my strong suit."
"And what exactly is your strong suit?"
I thought about it for a moment. Then thought about it for a minute more. Was there anything I was particularly good at?
"Nothing comes to mind?" Claude pressed. "I suppose that's to be expected."
I narrowed my eyes at him. Was he trying to start a fight with me? "Actually, I've thought of one. My strong suit is saving helpless princes from dumpsters."
He scowled and adjusted his body so he was turned away from me. I took out my notebook, satisfied with myself. Maybe that wasn't a fair response, considering that really hadn't been Claude's fault, but... oh well.
"Hello everyone," Ms. Maharaj greeted as she came into the room, then paused. "Where are the others?"
"San and Adora stayed after with Lietz today," I told her.
