Then he proceeded to make cruder and cruder remarks about me and Draken until I stopped talking to him altogether.
Absolute wanker.
“I knew him a little, you know,” Luc commented. “We were actually friends for a while in secondary school.”
I flinched, then turned my head, staring at the blue-eyed mage in surprise.
“Bones?” I asked incredulously. “You were friends with Caelum Bones?”
Luc nodded slowly. “We went to the same Academy. Before my parents split up, and I left with my mother for France.” His lips quirked, and he took another swallow of wine. “We were dorm mates. For a full year before I left, I hung out with him and Alec Greythorne practically every day.”
My eyes widened even more. “Alaric?”
Luc nodded. “It’s funny, Greythorne strikes me as a lot the same as I remember him back then. I see it especially when he’s talking to you.”
Astonished, I could only stare at him while my mind processed that bit of information. Then I let out a humorless sound. “And Bones? Was he as batshit crazy in those years as he is now? Or is that something that only manifested in adulthood?”
Luc’s smile faded. Even under the mad scientist make-up and hair, I noticed the change at once. His face took on that serious cast it sometimes did, and I was startled to see something like sadness reach Luc’s eyes.
“He’s got real issues, Leda,” Luc said, his voice frank. “Honestly? I used to worry about him. I don’t think his home life is very good.”
I took a sip from the mug. Nodding slowly, I acknowledged his words.
“Alaric said they kind of bonded over that, initially,” I admitted. “A lot of royals seem to be pretty messed up by their parents––”
“I think Bones’s situation is considerably worse,” Luc interrupted. a touch warning. “He used to get nightmares, Leda. Really bad ones. I didn’t really get it at the time, I was tooyoung to understand what they meant. But they scared me.” Swallowing another mouthful of wine, he added with a shrug, “Looking back on it, I suspect it was trauma. His dreams always got a lot worse right before a break where we’d all be going home.”
Luc stared over the graveyard, his eyes distant.
Slowly, he shook his head, as if to clear it.
“Both me and Alec worried about him.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “We used to talk about it, when he wasn’t around. We didn’t know what to do about it.”
I felt my skin growing cold as his words penetrated.
When I didn’t say anything, Luc shrugged.
“I just…” He hesitated. “I guess I’d just advise you to have a care with him.”
I fought to smile, but couldn’t really.
“Are you telling me to be nicer to him?” I hesitated, keeping my voice light with an effort. “I don’t actuallyenjoyarguing with him, believe it or not. Or some of the vile things that come out of his mouth. Do you think I’m misunderstanding him in some way?”
Luc winced, then shook his head.
“Not exactly that, no,” he said. “I more meant, he might be more fucked up than you realize.” He gave me a serious look. “I’m pretty sure his father beat him, Leda. Badly. He could barely walk a few times when he came back to school. The teachers pretended not to notice. They were all more than aware of who his father was.”
I fell silent. Remembering the scars on Bones’s body, what he’d said about “rules” and how he couldn’t leave campus, I didn’t answer. I couldn’t even bring myself to tell Luc that I was pretty sure he was right, that it might be significantly worse than he thought.
It felt like a betrayal of confidence, even now.
“Did he ever sleepwalk?” I asked, remembering my birthday. “Bones. Did he ever get up and do things, and not remember having done them?”
Luc looked at me, his eyes probing.
I felt a whisper of puzzlement on him as he studied my face. “Not that I can remember. Why? Has he told you that he does?”
Frowning, I shook my head. “No.”
