Page 1 of The Order of the Bitter Hunt

Chapter One

My name should be at the top of the list, or at leastnearthe top. This little sheet of paper, stapled carelessly on the wall outside our school theater, displays my fate for all to see. It’s the future of my acting career, and from over my shoulder, my peers eye it with the same greed.

I scan the cast list rigorously, lower and lower, until…

Margaux Cruz: Princess #3

No. This must be a mistake.

Not only did Professor Connolly give me a nameless part, but I’m thethirdnameless part on the list.

My blood boils—or it would if it wasn’t stuck at a temperature damn near freezing. I have my vampire parents to thank for that.

Most of the students behind me don’t suffer the same disappointed fate. Everyone is happier than I am. Even Princess number two has more to celebrate than I do.

“Look!” someone says, squealing to her friend. “I get to play Ella—can you believe it? It’s my first time getting the lead!”

“Wow.” I turn on my heel, facing her head-on. “Good for you. It issowonderful to see my fellow thespians living out my dreams.” I clear my throat. “I mean,theirdreams.”

Her name is Charlotte, I think. I’ve never paid her any mind, but now, I’m sure her pretty chestnut hair and sweet, innocent brown eyes will haunt my nightmares.

“Thank you,” she says, and it appears my sarcasm goes right over her pretty head.

They’re all so merry, and why wouldn’t they be? It’s my turn to suffer. I didn’t work this hard—as hard as everyone else, if not harder—to be tossed to the side.

I shouldn’t check for his name. I don’t need another reason to heat my borrowed blood, but it’s impossible to miss. His name is right at the top: JUN-SEONG PARK.

He’s the lead, the king of the castle, and I’m an unnamed princess he gets to reject at the very beginning of the play.

Whatever. I can’t waste time thinking about Jun-seong.

Normally, I would send the casting director a bouquet to thank her for the opportunity. But this? This conversation requires us to be face-to-face.

Professor Connolly is an older demoness with gray hair and wise eyes; she’s worked at Strode for decades. I’ve known her for as long as I can remember, and for the first time in my college career, I find myself doubting her wisdom. Not giving me a lead part is fine—it’s happened before, and I take it in great stride.

I’ve been the lead. I’ve been someone’s mother. I’ve been the villain. But a nameless character? It’s unthinkable. A low blow. She must be out to get me.

I may have been distracted lately, but I didn’t let my craft slip far enough for me to be at the bottom of the cast list.

Did I?

I stomp empty, stony hallways, with portraits of all sorts of supernatural beings—demons, vampires, werewolves—hungabout. Our world may be kept a secret, but there are pockets like Strode University where we exist together. Peacefully.

For the most part.

I knock on the door and poke my head inside.

Her office is quiet, filled with green plants, red accents, and the warmth of a crackling fireplace. The room receives optimal sunlight in the warmer seasons, but on a day like today, the gray skies do little to brighten it. Through the window, orange and scarlet trees sway in the autumn breeze.

I approach quietly, with a polite smile already resting on my lips.“Professor Connolly?”

“Ms. Cruz.” She fixes me with a serious stare rather than matching my smile.

I pull out the chair across from hers. “May I?”

“But, of course.”

I slide into the chair and rest my hands on the desk, clasping them together. “Thank you for making time for me on such short notice.”