That night, Julian came to escort me down to the cellars so that we could explore the tunnel again. He waited to speak until we were clear of the other candidate’s rooms, but once we had descended the staircase, he case me a sideways look.
“I heard about what happened,” he said.
My hand tightened on his arm, bunching up the sleeve of his black shirt.
“She was in my room, Julian. She could have been right next to me. Or Elva. If Elva hadn’t wanted to see that fabric in the morning, we might have never known Jane was there at all. What could she even want to do with that fabric? It was just a small piece?”
“Some kind of mind game, most likely. Or an attempt to sabotage you.”
I supposed either of those were possible, but I just didn’t know. I hated not knowing.
“But if she’s trying to s
