Blinking at the grinning boy with bruises on his throat, Caelum huffed a laugh as well. When he glanced at Lucifer Mocking that time, the somber boy with the shocking blue eyes and the shaggy, dark-red hair nearly smiled.
34
Eleusínia Myst?ria
Present Day
November 28th
Valarian College Dormitory
Malcroix Bones Academy
“Ican’t believe I have to put on another costume,” I grumbled, sipping my tea as I peeked up at Miranda from under a lock of curls she’d combed over my face to get them out of her way.
Wraith sprawled in my lap, kneading her claws on the terrycloth robe I wore, which was also Miranda’s. Wraith had been clingy with me since I got back to the room that afternoon, and wouldn’t leave my side.
I felt guilty about it.
It also made me want to go to the party even less.
“If I reallymustgo, can’t I just come as the school hybrid?” I complained. I frowned as I rubbed Wraith’s head with my thumb. “My costume could be an exhausted, studied-too-late-and-for-far-too-many-hours half-human. I’ll wear my pajamasand slippers and bring a cup of cocoa, read at a table in the corner for an hour, then come back here to sleep. You couldn’t ask for a more authentic costume, really. You might even win a prize.”
Miranda laughed, and smacked my arm.
Her mood around me had improved significantly since the night of our Halloween-themed birthday party. Normally, I’d be happy about that, but she was utterly immovable about me attending the dance with her and Jolie and Draken. She insisted I needed at least three parties where terrible thingsdidn’thappen to me to make up for the ones where they had.
When I said I didn’t have the energy or the brain power to figure out a costume, she offered to do everything for me, and then I was too tired to think up a better excuse not to go.
I’d barely slept.
Bones and I both crashed after that first time, but it’d been around four o’clock in the morning by then, and he woke me up only a few hours later with his fingers between my legs and his mouth on my breast. I hadn’t been particularly difficult to persuade after that, and we ended up fucking in his bed, then again in the shower after I tried to pull myself together enough to get to class.
My whole body was sore.
I was sore in places I’d never been sore before, and a part of me just wanted to curl up in bed with Wraith and think about the night before until I could relax about it.
I could admit to myself, the main reason I’d agreed to go to the ball at all was Bones.
He’d said he would be there. He’d asked me, both in the shower and in class, if I would be there, too, and what I’d be dressed as, and when I’d be arriving.
As for my dorm-mates, for once, they hadn’t even noticed I’d been out all night.
That was mostly because I’d covered my tracks better, telling them beforehand I’d be in the library and in Frumpy’s doing research all night. I’d warned them before the royals bonfire that they might not see me before I took off to classes the following morning.
When I’d stumbled into our dormitory briefly before my Dark Magic class, probably looking like roadkill, Miranda only laughed sympathetically and offered to make me a coffee. She’d recently discovered just how strong she could make her own coffee drinks with only a kettle, a portable filter, and some very finely cut fresh grounds.
When she asked me if I’d get a nap in before the dance that night, I’d groaned out loud.
“No,” I’d protested. “You can’t make me go. You can’t.”
“Youhaveto go,” she’d insisted. “You’re and Jolie are my only single friends.”
I opened my mouth at that, closed it, and frowned.
After a few more seconds of thought, I said, “I’m not single. I’m the hybrid. There’s a difference.” Hesitating, I added, “I’m not at all in the ‘troll for mages’ space, Mir. If I go at all, I won’t stay for long. I still have a paper to write before finals start next week. Not to mention all the practicing I need to get in for my Offensive and Defensive Magic exam.”
Miranda looked over, a faint frown furrowing her forehead.
