“Fair.” Voltaire was back to staring at my chest. “But I’ve noticed you’ve had fewer witches out with us of late. None at all for the last few outings, if memory serves.” He nodded towards me. “Where’s this one from, then? She’s hot, even by your standards. You find her in London? Because I think I would’ve noticed those tits, if I’d seen her at school.”
I fought not to look at Voltaire after he said it, but felt myself stiffen.
Bones warned me they’d be crude. He said they saw it as their birthright to be utter pricks to witches, not only the hybrid ones. But I hadn’t expected them to talk about me like I wasn’t there, or describe me to my face like Bones had acquired a new dog.
Bones tugged on my fingers again, a little more insistently, and I smiled at him coyly. I walked right up to him that time, and slid sensually into his lap, angling my legs to one side so they hung over his thighs. I felt him jump a little when I did it, especially when I pushed my way deeper into his lap, and curled my arms around his neck. I sat sideways partly for the short skirt, and partly so I wouldn’t be blocking his view of the fire, or of his friends. My fingers slid into his hair at the nape of his neck.
I leaned down, kissing his ear lightly, and he jumped again.
“Don’tIget a drink?” I pouted.
He looked up at me, one eyebrow quirked.
I stroked his face and jaw lightly with my fingers, and saw his eyes flinch.
Calm down,I thought at him.You’d think I was murdering you.
Your acting is better than I remembered,he muttered back.
My jaw tensed.Pretend I’m someone else.
He didn’t answer, but his eyes shifted towards one of the squat beings I’d seen roaming between the couches and chairs. He motioned the being closer with a flick of his fingers.
“Bring us a Dragonfire and a pink fizzle,” he said, once the being reached us.
“Damn.” A different voice rose from behind me, and I turned my head, without really pulling my face away from Bones.
Nicolai “Pants” Panzen stood there, a pint of beer in each hand. He was staring unflinchingly at my arse, which was slightly tilted in his direction, but the instant I turned my upper body, his eyes rose to my tits. His grey rhinoceros primal stood planted by his feet, stomping its foot as it stared at me, too.
“Should’ve known you’d show the rest of us up,” Pants said, leering at me. “Where in the gods did you find this little sex kitten?”
Bones rolled his eyes. “Must you all act like you’ve never seen a witch before? It’s embarrassing to have you leering like it’s your first set of tits.”
“Well, to be fair, you’ve deprived us lately, Bones,” another voice said.
My eyes shifted to Pants’s right, but I didn’t know the mage who stood there. Whoever he was, Elysia Warrington clung to his arm, looking at little drunk where she was half-pressed into his side. The mage was tall, dark-haired, handsome, and looked vaguely familiar, like the witches sitting with Voltaire and Scar. I was pretty sure he was older, as I hadn’t seen him in the dining halls at Grathrock or Valarian, but I’d definitely noticed him at one royals table or another.
Warrington looked me over with a drunken curl of her lip.
“Who’s this bitch?” she asked, slurring a little.
Even her primal, a pink-colored faery with a fierce-looking face, looked tipsy where it fluttered around her head.
Bones tsk’d her, wrapping a hand around my thigh. “Manners, Elysia.”
She rolled her eyes and huffed at him. “You really are unbelievable,” she said. “Did you pay for her outright this time, Bones? Or just show her your primal?”
“Probably showed her his bank balance,” Pants snorted.
The mage with Warrington, if he noticed his date’s irritation, ignored it.
“Wheredidyou find this little morsel?” he asked, his eyes flickering off me to smirk at Bones. “She’s absolutely stunning.”
Bones’s other hand slid around to my arse, and that time, I jumped.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” he sneered at the other mage.
“You want a drink, Bonesy?” a different voice asked. “Doesn’t look like your witch is going to fetch you one. Too busy grinding on your cock, from the looks of it.”
