And Alcántara was the key. So many secrets began and ended with him.

Keep your enemies close.…Wasn’t that how the saying went? Getting closer to Alcántara could prove illuminating, and with Carden missing in action, this was my moment. At least that was what I told myself as I approached his office. Because doing what I was about to do, I needed every mantra, motto, and saying I could muster.

“Mi querida,” he purred. “What a surprise.”

I closed the door behind me. “Good evening,” I said, using my most polite-young-lady voice.

Master Dagursson might’ve smelled like musty old papers, but the office of Master Hugo de Rosas Alcántara wrapped me in scents of aged leather, antique mahogany furniture oiled to a fine sheen, and crystal snifters of brandy. It smelled dangerous.

I pasted a smile on my face. I’d purposely come at the end of his office hours so we wouldn’t be interrupted. I reminded myself this was a good thing. For my plan to work, we needed to be alone. So why was my heart knocking in my chest, feeling as fragile and fluttering as a bird’s?

The wingback chair creaked as I sat down, the leather a deep—and deeply disturbing—oxblood red. “Thank you for making time for me.” It was a halting beginning, but I had to start somewhere. I was in it now. And besides, I was convinced this was the best first step in my plan to uncover every secret in this place, because who was closer to the heart of the mystery than Alcántara?

The Spanish vampire sat utterly still, fingers steepled, watching me like some magnificent predatory bird. One false move, and I had no doubt he’d swoop across the room and devour me.

I had to admit, the guy sure was pretty. Long and lean, in black jeans and black sweater to match his artfully tousled black hair. He looked like a bored rock star.

Bored and silent.

I waited, because wasn’t this place all about speak when spoken to?

It didn’t take too long before I began to squirm. He was using the silence. It was his tool, his weapon.

Because I could no longer bear not saying something, I said, “I appreciate you seeing me.”

Silence.

“I know it’s the end of your office hours.”

I could practically hear the crickets chirping.

“I had an idea I wanted to discuss with you.”

Immortal black eyes, watching. Calmly. Waiting.

I couldn’t help it—that stare was too disarming. Apparently, his silence was, in fact, an awesome tool, because here came my babbling questions. Anything to make him speak. “I mean, you do have a minute, right? Is this an okay time? Do you need me to come back tomorrow? Because I can, if that’s better.”

The inelegant outburst made me cringe.

Finally, a small smile curled his mouth. “I always have time for you, cariño.” The words rippled over me, a rich and sensual hum, warming me. Teasing me.

Check that. Toying with me.

But this wasn’t my first tango with Master Alcántara. He’d tried this crap before, using eyes and voice and touch, trying to mess with my mind. I inhaled deeply, until my lungs burned, and held it. As my head cleared, I gave him an artfully naive smile.

He laughed then, a bright, crisp bark of a laugh that seemed to surprise him as much as it did me. “Truly, it is lovely to spend time with you again,” he said. “Just when I’d begun to fear you were avoiding me.” He kicked out his feet, no longer looking like he was plotting either how to bewitch me or bite me, and I relaxed a little. “I confess,” he said, “your roommate surprised me. I hadn’t thought she had such depths.”

“Frost?” I smiled, going with it, because my roommate was an infinitely better topic of conversation than me. “Yeah, who knew? I thought her inner world began and ended with irregular Norse declensions.”

“Funny, is it not? How two talented minds can be so very different. But I’d guessed you wouldn’t be friends. Not your type.”

He’d guessed? “So then why’d you assign me as her roommate?” I had no doubt the vampires micromanaged every decision on this island. Who roomed with whom, who got which weapons, hell, what food they served on any given day—it would’ve all gotten equal attention.

“Not I, querida. Acari Frost”—he shrugged like he found the name as silly as I did—“she is Alrik’s project, not mine.” Alrik, meaning none other than Master Dagursson, our resident Viking vampire.

“Master Dagursson can rest assured,” I said blithely, “that girl is just as fascinated by him as he is by her.”

His eyes shuttered. Note to self: Vamps don’t like gossiping about other vamps. Unless that vamp was Carden, who did enjoy a nice rousing round of gossip…And you can bet I shoved that thought away as quickly as it’d appeared. God only knew what mind-reading talents Master Al was privy to.

“Why have you come?” he asked frankly, those coal-black eyes suddenly laser focused. “Certainly it is not merely to tell tales about your peers. Is it that you have…extra time at your disposal?”

Crap. He was slipping back into our old rapport, a rapport that involved his creepy flirting and my panicked evasions. Clearly this was a reference to Carden and how he’d disappeared—a fact that surely hadn’t escaped Alcántara’s notice. Carden was gone, and boom, Drew had free time.

I must’ve looked freaked out, because he added an amused, “Am I mistaken?”

“I do find I have some extra time on my hands,” I said, too smart to lie. There was no pretending with Alcántara, just avoidance and redirection. “That’s why I came. I have a proposition.” I blushed furiously. “Not that kind of proposition. I mean—” Oh God…where was I going with this? Well, if he thought I was flirting, so be it. Whatever I had to do to get closer to that castle. “I was wondering if you needed an assistant for this term.”

His eyes widened. I could tell he hadn’t been expecting that. “An assistant?”

“Yes,” I replied, feeling a tiny rush of triumph. Anytime I could keep a vampire on his toes was a good time. “You know, a research assistant, like they have in college.”

“What would you do as my assistant?” That last bit came out in a low, suggestive drawl.

Oh. God. Yuck. Not like that.

I needed to become intimate with the secrets of the keep without, you know, getting intimate with Alcántara. Some things I just would not do.

“I could help with papers,” I said, keeping a breezy smile pasted on my face—that good old avoidance and redirection strategy. “Sometimes you come to class with lots of materials. I could help you carry and keep track of things. I can do additional research projects for you, too. Just like at a real college.”

He tilted his head back to study the ceiling. Apparently, our vampire instructors weren’t accustomed to assistants. While he studied the dark, gabled ceiling, I stole a furtive glance around the room. There were all manner of mysterious cabinets and books and boxes…a gold mine for a girl in search of answers.

I sensed him shifting and zipped my attention back to him. My innocent smile was beginning to hurt my cheeks.

He sighed thoughtfully, studying me. If he suspected my motives, he didn’t show it. Which wasn’t to say he didn’t suspect me, because I was certain he suspected me of all kinds of things. No doubt—the sky was gray, the sea was cold, and Alcántara was suspicious.

Worse, he’d probably end up making my life miserable. But if I kept on my toes and stayed sharp, I hoped I could avoid the sort of creepy overtures he’d tried in the past.

He appeared to be seriously considering it. I thought of all those locked cabinets and mysterious tomes. Could it be this easy? Aching cheeks or not, I kept my face frozen in a pleasant, girlishly expectant expression. He might’ve been skilled at the use of silence as a weapon, but I had a few tricks up my sleeve, too.

“Cariño, I admire your ambition. But I must reflect on such an arrangement before I agree.”

“Of course.” I tried to look innocently hopeful. If I could eventually get him to trust me enough to access his office when he wasn’t there…It was almost too exciting to consider. “Please do think about it and let me know. I would relish the opportunity.”

“I’m certain you would,” he said, and his tone had an edge that gave me the chills.

It struck me just how dangerous this was. Forget his creepy attempts at flirtation. He could very well use this as a way to spy on me. I’d need to be careful—if he ever gave me access to his office, I wouldn’t be surprised if it were to secretly watch my every move.

The clock on his wall chimed, a low bong-bonging announcing the dinner hour. “Uh-oh,” I chirped. “It’s six o’clock already. Sorry I took so much of your time.”

It’d been perfect timing, actually, and I made a mental note—meeting at the end of office hours gave us alone time, but not so much alone time that I couldn’t find an excuse to escape.

Maybe I was overconfident from the successes of the last hour, but when he began to gather an unwieldy stack of books, without thinking, I stupidly asked, “Do you need me to help you carry those back to the castle?”

I instantly regretted it. I mean, duh. Subtle, Drew. What was I thinking? That now he’d just let me stroll wherever he went?

He peered at me, managing to look both suspicious and amused. “You know you’re not allowed in the keep.”

“Yes.” I laughed. “Kidding, kidding.”

But as he locked up, his expression wasn’t humorous at all. He just gave a grim nod and left me standing alone in the hallway.

It was okay, though, because my mind was racing already. Eventually, I would find a way into that castle.

Surely there were deliveries. Laundry. Housekeepers. Something. I’d once spotted a janitor in the science building—surely there was a team of custodians in the castle, too. I was certain the vampires wouldn’t sully their pristine hands with such banal concerns as toilet scrubbing. I mean, not even we girls had to scrub our own toilets…aside from the odd bathroom hazing, of course. No, the cockiness of the Trainees suggested somebody else handled their domestic concerns. I vowed to find out.