What's at Stake

Chapter Forty-Four

I fiddled with my fingers, nervousness suddenly taking over. It would be fine. No one knew Claude and Felix were heading to check the border out besides Evander and the guards transporting them there. And Claude had the Sway. Nothing would happen.

My concern must have been obvious because Claude stepped up to me. He took my hands in his, making me halt my nervous habit. "I'll keep you updated, Cleo. Text me if anytime you're feeling anxious and I'll make sure to respond immediately so you can be at ease."

"Okay," I responded, smiling at him.

He leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead. "See you later."

"Woah," Felix said loudly. "In front of her ex? How could you? So cruel."

"Ex?" Claude said, throwing Felix a bemused look. "You were never her boyfriend. Perhaps just a stepping stone to me."

"Hey," I interjected quickly as Felix's eyes narrowed. "I already told you I don't like being fodder for you two," I directed toward Felix. "And same goes to you, Claude. Banter all you want, but leave me out of it."

Felix and Claude both had the decency to look ashamed and they both remained quiet until a sleek black Bentley pulled up to the school's gates. Kaz and I bid goodbye to Claude and Felix and stood there watching them as they drove away.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Kaz said after a moment.

"I'm sure they'll be fine," I responded but didn't really believe it. I would definitely be taking Claude up on his offer to text him.

"Hopefully they can strengthen the border. I'd hate to see what happens if someone like your father found out how weak it's getting."

"Is there any way for him or anyone else to find out about the border?"

"It's possible, but it would take a while for anyone to be sure. They'd have to send humans over the border and then notice that they weren't being caught. And we know there are times where hunters do make it over here without getting caught, even though the border did go off. So even if a few got by undetected, it wouldn't really mean anything to them."

I glanced at the forest, thinking about the hunters who attacked Felix and me. The border had gone off when they crossed, but not fast enough for them to be caught before reaching the academy.

Kaz gestured toward the dorms. "Come on, we shouldn't be out here by ourselves for too long."

"If the border stopped working what would happen?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if hunters tried to take over our area."

"Couldn't they do that anyway? If they all got together to attack, how does the border help anything?"

Kaz kicked at a rock on the ground, shrugging. "It doesn't really."

"What's the point of it then?"

"To at least warn us of what's coming. You think the last Blood War was just hunters overpowering vampires? No. It was surprise raids. Vampires might have fared better had they had any warning of the first assaults."

I watched the rock Kaz was kicking roll ahead of us. Right. Before the Blood War, the vampire territory was much larger, beyond what the border covered. They'd lost all the land beyond the border in the armistice.

"Maybe we'll work on getting it back after we deal with your father," Kaz said. "Speaking of, I wanted to talk to you while Claude is gone."

"About what?"