Are you asking me if I’m sleeping with Alaric?I asked, disbelieving.Again?
Yes.
I stared at the gold and green fire that rippled through his irises, scarcely believing it was real.Why in the gods would you care, especially now?I asked.You’re not honestly jealous. Why would you––
The fuck I’m not.
I fell silent. I kept the frown off my face with an effort, but he only stared back, his expression flat. I forced myself to look away, then to exhale.
I’m not sleeping with Alaric,I thought at him clearly.It’s never so much as come up between us. He generally wanted me to help him scope out mages whenever we went out in London, so he was hardly––
And Joran?he asked.
I bit my lip, unable to help it.Gods, not this again. How drunk are you?
Only while you were in California, then?he asked, ignoring my question.With Joran. It was just a summer thing?
You are absolutely unbelievable.I bit my lip again.
Leda, I heard you in the carriage––
“I hope you’re right about Alaric,” Voltaire said, causing us both to turn. He smirked at me, his eyes raptor-like as he looked between me and Bones. “I guess we’ll find out, soon enough. I hear your father’s doing the ritual on him in just a few days.”
Both of us stiffened, although probably for different reasons.
Ritual?I wondered loudly.
But that time, Bones’s mind remained silent.
32
Honesty
Ihadn’t really thought about how we’d get back to the campus buildings, not until the party began to break up.
I suppose, if asked, I would have said we’d walk, since that was how we’d gotten there. But the party fell apart quickly in the end, not long after the first snowflakes drifted down, landing on conjured couches, loveseats, chaise lounges, and armchairs, softly at first, then rapidly thickening into denser flurries with larger, wetter flakes.
A sudden scramble ensued as everyone began retrieving coasts and jackets, bottles and wings, readying to leave. They could have held the snow off with spells, most likely, but I guessed it was too late for anyone to want to bother with that, and it might be more involved than I imagined, since I’d never tried to hold off actual weather before.
I had no idea what time it was.
It struck me that it would be harder now, for Bones and I to get out of there inconspicuously, with so many walking in the same direction as a large group.
Then Bones moved his hand in a graceful mudra, and his topcoat appeared out of the pile of fast-vanishing outwear andflew to his hands. From inside the folds of cloth, he pulled out a set of familiar-looking black wings he must have magicked smaller so they’d fit inside.
I’d barely comprehended that much by the time he’d shouldered on the coat, and found an empty spot to lay out the wings, now folded, but back to their regular size.
I watched, silent, as the enormous black wings wove themselves onto his back, the threads of black and gold magic filtered through his bone dragon primal. Within a few seconds, they hung heavily behind him, as if the gold bones, muscle, and feathers had pierced the thick wool of his topcoat. I’d nearly convinced myself he intended to leave me there, that I would be walking back alone, when he held out his arms, his gold eyes holding an unambiguous meaning.
I walked into his embrace without thought, and he wrapped the thick topcoat and his arms tightly around me.
“Ready?” he murmured in my ear.
I nodded, gripping hold of his arms.
We rose into the air so smoothly, I barely felt my feet leave the ground.
If it hadn’t been for the dip in my stomach and the change in view as snow flurried around us, blinding me as we rose, I might not have known we were even in the air. Then, abruptly, he put more will and intention into our flight, and we were moving a lot faster.
