Calm down,he thought at me. His other hand tightened on my hip.And you can do whatever you want. I’ll only direct you if I think they’re getting suspicious. Right now, they just thinkyou’re shy. It’s somewhat strange for me, but not completely out of the realm of possibility, so don’t worry about it. Just try not to grimace when I touch you.
I suppressed the impulse to roll my eyes.What would “not-shy” look like?
Don’t worry about it, Shadow.
I am going to worry about it,I retorted.I don’t want to do anything that will annoy you, but it’s pretty clear I’m not acting how your usual dates act––
You’re not going to annoy me,he cut in, impatient.I already said, do whatever you want. There are absolutely no limits to that.
You say that now.
I say that period,he warned.I’m not going to say no to anything, Shadow. And it’s true, the more you sexualize yourself, the more they’re likely to dismiss you in other respects. You can do whatever the fuck doesn’t cross your personal boundaries. It’s your call.
There was a silence while I thought about that.
I finished off the last of the pink fizzle as I did.
The rest of the royals had forgotten about me, thankfully, and had fallen into more ordinary conversation. So far, they weren’t talking about anything remotely Dark Cathedral-like. They talked about tomorrow’s costume ball, instead, and about their holiday plans.
That’ll come later,Bones murmured in my mind.The political talk. They’ll need to be drunker to start talking about it openly in front of someone they don’t know.
I bit my lip, but took a second pink fizzle off the tray when the goblin brought back new drinks for both of us, and for several of the other mages and witches. I noticed about half the males were drinking hard alcohol. I only halfway listened as Voltaire,Maskey, and the others began arguing about the upcoming Skyhunt match on Sunday.
The older mage now had his hand shoved between Warrington’s legs, and appeared to be fingering her right in front of us. She didn’t seem to mind. Her hand was massaging the front of his trousers as he pressed her into the couch for a kiss.
I jerked my eyes off them when a familiar name reached my ears.
“…Strangemore?” A tall mage with dark skin and straight black hair grunted, sitting up in one of the chairs on the other side of Voltaire and Maskey. He handed a glass of amber-colored liquid to a witch with long auburn hair. “Didn’t you hear? Fucker’s in the hospital. Guess he pissed off more than the hybrid and her little friends.”
I kept my expression still, even before Bones’s fingers tightened on my thigh in warning.
“When was this?” Pants asked, leaning forward in interest. “His father took him back to Scotland, didn’t he? Or was it Ireland?”
“Neither.” The new mage drank down a few swallows of his own drink, shaking his head. “This was in London. I don’t know all the details, but he’s been in hospital at least a few weeks. Whoever did it, they fucked him up pretty good. There was some talk it was about a witch again. Fucker always did have issues when it came to that, didn’t he? I guess he finally messed with the wrong witch… or crossed the wrong mage. Or both.”
I felt my fingers curl tighter into Bones’s shirt.
For at least a few seconds, I didn’t hear anything the others said.
When I finally focused back on the conversation, they’d moved on to Skyhunt.
“…That annoying little prick, Strangemore, was good, though,” Voltaire was saying grudgingly. He barely glanced at Warrington and the mage she was still snogging before looking back at Pants and the auburn-haired mage whose name I didn’t know. “Figures that cunt hybrid would lose us our best player. She’s such an unbelievable cocktease… I don’t blame Strangemore for losing patience withthatparticular slag. But because she’s Forsooth’s favorite little kiss-ass, he gets thrown out for what any one of us would’ve done. Meanwhile, she’s giving it up to that prancing idiot, Joran, every chance she gets.”
Bones grunted but didn’t comment.
I looked down at him, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes.
Bones,I thought at him cautiously.Did you––
Not here,he cut in.
He took a long drink off the new Dragonfire he’d ordered, adjusting his weight in a deeper sprawl in the chair. The fingers of his free hand lazily traced over my bare leg, pausing to tug lightly on the edge of my skirt.
I fought to push thoughts of Strangemore out of my mind.
Honestly, I couldn’t say I was horrified, or even particularly bothered by the thought of him in hospital. My hypocrisy could only extend so far. I wasn’t proud of my reaction, but I couldn’t lie to myself about it, either.
It could mostly be summed up as “Good.”
