The wizened gamekeeper gives me a knowing look. “I think you’re giving yourself too little credit, and Jasper’s past too much. The prince is very damaged—anyone with eyes can see that. However, you shifted into a second form to protect him, and it’s one that the others claim could keep up with his dragon. You don’t know how rare that is, or what it might mean. Don’t write everything off just yet.”
I don’t agree with him, but I nod. “If Dottie wasn’t a bonded familiar, then what was she doing stealing from the safe, and where did she come from?”
“That’s the rub, innit?” Arces grins as he leans down and looks at my kinkajou. “And you can’t tell us, can you?”
Dottie throws a grape off the plate at him, her tiny face indignant. I laugh, reaching out to pet her head. “I forgot to tell you that she has tantrums when people piss her off.”
“Aye, I see that. Probably a good thing—once you are completely emerged, the bond should deepen, and she might be able to use a slice of your power to help keep you safe. We won’t know until it happens, obviously, but Rook can.”
“Is that normal? Or is it a demon thing?” I ask curiously. “Normal for all familiars, I mean.”
“There are some with fewer capabilities and some with more,” he says as he strokes his beard. “The theory is that it depends on the bond and the power level of the supernatural the animal is paired with. Rook was a great help in the wars, but I…”
“You’re a big fucking deal?”
He bellows with laughter again, and I finally feel my body relax. It hasn’t done that since the damn practice and the subsequentmess, but Arces’ unfiltered joy in humor is helping. The big man wants nothing from me—only to help me—and he’s not judging me for my deception. That’s a load off of me that has been weighing me down, and I needed this.
“Yes, yes, I am.” His eyes dance as he leans back in his chair. “We can start working together, Kat, but you know what you have to do. It won’t be easy or fun, but there are difficult times ahead, and I’m not talking about the likely start of the Games after the holidays.”
“Yeah, I know.” I close my eyes and try to keep myself stable. “I have to work things out with the caliphate, and I probably have to go back to the surface to find out what Dottie was attempting to steal.”
“Indeed.”
The Fates are heartless bitches—that much is certain, even if I can’t say it out loud.
Three
ORIEL
This week has been a goddamn nightmare.
Between Jasper’s sulking and KK needing space, I’m itchy as fuck. I know my brothers are feeling it, too, because there have been more than a few dust-ups as frayed edges brush against each other. Zav told us about the request to let Kat breathe when we finished cleaning up the field and getting that stupid potion to the doc. He waited until Jasper took his leave to do it, and there was more than one protest, but we finally agreed. Each of us has promised to respect her boundaries more than once, and I know that Jasper’s rejection hurt her, though she accepted it.
The dude is literally incapable of processing emotions healthily, and he can’t see the sparks for the flames.
But it’s not my place to judge either of them. Just because most of us were farther along in our feelings for her when we were told and could handle it doesn’t mean the most damaged one of us could do the same. Jasper will eventually get his shit together, and all we can do is hope that it’s before his cranky silence and glares cause an irreparable schism between him and our girl.Zavida is doing his best in the background to guide the prince, but that, too, is a limited capability. Jasper has to deal with this himself, and he has towantto see the truth rather than cradle his pain like a child.
As for KK? Once the weekend ended, she complied with her promise not to venture off alone, but she withdrew into herself. She doesn’t chat or joke with us, even Salem. We get quiet ‘thank yous’ for escorting her or grabbing her food that she barely touches, but not much else. Even Dottie has huddled close to her companion, doing everything she can to soothe whatever emotions are plaguing Kat. They’ve closed ranks, and it makes my crow anxious as fuck.
I can’t sit still, and when I’m not required to be somewhere, I’m flying about stealing anything I can get my beak on.
Which is what I’m doing today while the object of my affections is having a session with The Keeper, by the way. I dropped her off, then shifted immediately, leaving my clothes on his doorstep so I could take to the skies. I’ve circled the campus a couple of times, my eyes darting around to see if something sparkles or catches my gaze with no luck. The campus is quiet as demons hunker down, cramming for exams or taking them in turn.
Exams in the schools here aren’t like what I’ve seen in the human movies we’ve watched with KK since she arrived. They’re a part of your grades, but we take them individually, and they are based on the progress of each demon in each class as determined by your professors. In a normal year, one without this damn Games announcement, there would be posting of scores and fanfare. That’s not the case now, especially since the coursework has been modified for training. The ones I’ve taken so far have been more like a review of what I’m doing well at and what I need to develop if I want to survive the stupid competition.
Demons who survive are probably going into their future careers with little to no knowledge of shit because they’ve geared our education to a test, not learning.
No one asked me, though, so I chalk it up to dumbassery by the school and the court for letting it happen this way. All this scheming and counter-scheming is hobbling their most elite children, but they’re not worried about it in the slightest. I shudder to think of what’s happening in the less affluent schools if this is what’s going on here. It has to be absolutely horrific, and that’s the kind of inequality my brothers and I always hoped to fix someday. Who knows if that will be possible now?
Squawking in annoyance as I do another lap around the main campus, I see a flash of light near the arena. No one should be there now; I’ve passed it twice already, and there aren’t any exams going on in the stadium today. Banking left, I do a U-turn and catch the airstream blowing in that direction to get there faster. There’s too much bullshit going on here and in other realms for me not to suspect a random flash of light appearing where it shouldn’t.
I carefully approach, keeping myself hidden by flying just behind the top rows of seating until I reach the section I think the light appeared in. I slip over the boxes, perching on one like I’m a normal ass bird so I don’t draw any attention from below. I don’t know what this is or how good its senses are, so I’m not headed straight to the source with wild abandon. If I could frown in this form, I would when I see a group of people wandering around the field snooping.
That’s not good at all—I have to get closer.
It takes a few minutes of quiet observation and specific movements, but I make my way to a level where I can seethe figures clearly enough to identify them. There’s a pink and purple-haired woman, a blond guy with a baby sling, and two dark-haired men examining the sidelines where just a week ago, the Major’s body was sprawled. Recognition flares and I realize these people aren’t some investigator team sent by the crown or working for Darkstar—they’re the Gemini twins and their family. We met them at that meeting in their mobbed-up father’s perverse playground, and for some reason, they’re now in our realm.
I want to scream in frustration; this is not the time for visitors, even if they might be on our side. My caliphate has issues that aren’t going away anytime soon, and I’d prefer the sons of Luca Gemini not know about it. Wethinkthey’re opposed to their traitorous dad, but we haven’t been able to fully vet that situation since our return. Having them wandering around campus unchecked when my brothers and I are divided isnotthe optimal situation. I have to get KK back to the dorm where she’s safe; that’s the only thing that’s important right now.
