“Fly away, little present,” he drawled lazily. “You’ll have to get on your knees for me on another night, I’m afraid. I’m not able to play with you this evening.”
I stared at him.
His face didn’t move.
His gold eyes, which could be cryptic at the best of times, were more like impenetrable mirrors now. They made his previous expressionless stares seem almost emotional andtransparent. I’d never seen his eyes look quite like they did in that doorway, like he was completely dead inside.
My magic flickered upwards, looking for his primal. I honestly wondered, for that split second, if the person in front of me wasn’t Bones at all.
But the black crystal hung where it always did, its fire rippling in invisible wind. Curls of smoke plumed off the faceted stone around that dancing black fire.
I focused back on him warily.
“You might’ve told me before I came all the way over here.” I bit my lip, remembering Miranda, and my anger abruptly grew hotter. “You really are a piece of work, you know that? I canceled plans for this, Bones. Plans that actually mattered to me.”
He stared back, all trace of that indulgent amusement gone.
The eyes that met mine were cold, raptor-like.
“You certainly think quite a lot of yourself, don’t you, little present?” he observed. “Just who is it you think you’re speaking to, witch? Or is part of your foreplay to have that lovely mouth of yours broken prior to it being put to use?”
The words were so stripped of feeling, it took a second for them to penetrate. Once they had, I felt myself pale. Something about all of it, his words, that dead-eyed stare, his utter lack of inflection, made the hairs on my arms and neck stand on end.
I took a half-step back.
Instantly, I saw that fire in his eyes dim.
Almost like my fear had finally satisfied him.
“Run along now, little witch,” he said, back to sounding bored. “Your services are not required in this residence tonight, but I’m sure you can still put that tongue of yours to good use. There must be some other royal cock around here that needs cleaning.”
I opened my mouth, not even sure what I intended to say to that, but he was already closing the door. It slammed shut in myface, and I found myself standing there, in the narrow hallway outside his tower, utterly confused.
28
Promise Me
Present Day
November 22nd
Valarian College Dormitory
Malcroix Bones Academy
Jolie was helping me with my Halloween costume when the words blurted out of me.
I hadn’t meant to say them.
Honestly, I’d never meant to ask her anything about it at all.
After the afternoon I’d had, arguing with Bones for something like the twentieth time that week, even as he shouted commands at me, criticized my fighting stance, made me do sit-ups when I couldn’t remember the last attack spell he’d taught me, and lobbed magic at me when I was too angry and distracted to fight back, I guess I wasn’t completely in my right mind.
After I’d showered and changed from that, I’d spent over an hour on Jolie’s costume, winding cloth bandages around her arms, legs, and naked torso, magicking the ends together with spells, and, once I’d gotten her covered in a way she was happy with, using more spells to add flourishes like fake blood, rotted-looking bits on the bandages, blackened fingernails, scars, and greyed skin.
Once I’d done that much, I got more creative.
I added red earth and sand texture to the bandages, making her look like she’d just crawled out from a desert grave. I cast an illusion that made some of her fingers look like they were only bone, and did the same with part of her jaw. When I asked her if she wanted me to go all out and add cuts and maggots and that kind of thing, she shuddered and said emphatically no, so I decided to leave the decayed bits as they were.
