Unbroken Ties (Keeping Secrets 2)

Chapter 1

The sloping lecture theatre was old and cramped; the walls were lined with grimy cabinets, filled with moulting stuffed animals, chipped stone busts and old grey photographs. The stale musty smell that filled the room clung to Temperance's clothes and lined her throat. She put her chin in her hand and watched dust particles float through the weak shafts of light that managed to penetrate the grubby windowpanes near the ceiling.

Everyone else was listening with rapt attention to the lecturer. With a sigh, Temperance glanced back at the two doors that led out into the hall. Despite her petite figure, the wooden bench still groaned and squeaked as she fidgeted. The tops of her legs felt numb already and there was still an hour left to go.

A sharp elbow caught her in the ribs. She scowled over at the girl beside her, who jerked her thumb downwards. The lecturer had stopped talking and was frowning up at them. Everyone else in the room twisted around to peer up; two middle aged women with perms glared at her. Unlike Temperance, not all of the people at the talk were students of the college.

"Sorry," Temperance muttered, slumping back in her seat. Her thick brown hair fell into her eyes, obscuring her view of the lecturer's thin-lipped frown as she returned to her talk.

She knew she shouldn't have found it so difficult to concentrate, considering the topic, flesh-eating faey, but no matter how real she knew they were she still found it hard to take any lecture about them seriously. Especially from a woman who looked so normal.

Dr Branwen Reinhardt was a Carwick University faculty member. Dressed in a bland pencil skirt, she wore her sandy-coloured hair pulled back into a tight bun that stretched the skin around her eyes, giving her a constant surprised expression. Temperance presumed she was a faey, as the Appreciation Society only booked guest speakers who were, but there was no clue as to what she might be.

The Society had been recommended to Temperance by Winthrop White the last time she had visited his tea shop. As her mother had inhaled a selection of burning incense that left her in a giddy haze for hours, Winthrop had slipped Temperance a leaflet and told her it was the best place to learn about the faey world. It was a group run by faey, for faey and as someone not entirely human, with numerous different faey in her family, it meant Temperance had been allowed to attend.

"Now, I've talked enough about the culture of the spriggan. I'd like to move onto a topic closer to my heart." Dr Reinhardt's tone brightened, her wide eyes flared and she pressed a hand to her chest. "Werewolves!"

Temperance lifted her head and straightened up on the bench. She shot a glance at the blonde-haired girl beside her who was pretending to yawn.

"This will be boring," she muttered to Temperance.

While the Society had only taught her a few things about the faey world, it had helped her to make a new friend, of sorts.

"For you maybe, Emery," Temperance said.

"My stepmother will be delighted to know I was forced to listen to more nonsense about us, she's always nagging me to embrace our culture more." Emery rolled her eyes.

Dr Reinhardt dug into her bag and withdrew a small white clicker. "I'm going to touch on genetic mutations in werewolves now and then a little bit about the history of one of their legendary heroes."

A general murmur filled the room as people spoke amongst themselves while Dr Reinhardt began to set up the lecture. She directed two students towards the windows; they scrambled up onto the tables to tug down the blinds. Dr Reinhardt placed a battered projector on the front desk, beside a stack of white slides.

"Does she not have a computer?" Emery snorted, watching the woman flick on the old machine.

The grey box started to hum and flicker. Dr Reinhardt slotted her small slides into the tray and pulled a white screen down over the blackboard.