When I glanced at him, he quirked an eyebrow at me.
“I told you my family owns the building,” he said.
When I didn’t say anything to that, he cleared his throat.
“The school doesn’t use this tower for anything,” he added. “It served as temporary housing for visiting professors for a while, under my great-grandfather’s tenure as headmaster, but now they generally give them an actual house in Bonescastle. If I wasn’t attending classes right now, this entire part of the mansion would remain locked.”
“You lived here last year, too?” I asked, still dumbfounded.
He shrugged, but avoided my eyes.
“It’s been set aside for my family’s use since the buildings and grounds were donated to the school,” he said, a little defensively. “It’s really not that crazy, Shadow. I told you before, my family still owns most of this land, and all but one of the buildings on it.”
I couldn’t help it though, I let out a half-laugh. “No wonder you have such a revolving door of witches. You’ve got your own bachelor pad in the middle of campus.”
Inexplicably, his mood went from faintly uncomfortable to annoyed.
He glared at me, then started to get up from the bed.
“I need a shower,” he said, rising from the mattress to give me a haughty look. “You can have one when I’ve finished. Then we’ll find something you can wear out of here.”
I stared up at him, bewildered at his abrupt change in tone, not to mention the abrupt end to our entire conversation. So we were done talking about Alaric, I guess? I’d managed to derail our relatively friendly interaction, just by asking him about his living arrangements and making a stupid joke about his endless parade of sexual conquests?
“Gods.” I let out a disbelieving laugh as I stared at him from under the canopy. “What on earth did I do now? Was it because I had the audacity to be shocked, once more, at your family’sobscene wealth, and the fact that you live on a different planet than me?”
When his expression remained closed, I bit my lip.
“Or was it me pointing out the quiteobviousfact that you’re the biggest slut in school that’s got you all annoyed?” I made my words teasing. “Would you rather if I threw a fit, Bones? Had an absolutetantrumbecause you’ve chosen to go through witches like we’re all just shiny new outfits you can don and discard whenever you’re bored of how they look on you?”
His gold eyes flashed with real irritation.
Oh, it was definitely the witches comment, then.
He looked like he wanted to say something, then seemed to change his mind, or maybe simply thought better of it. In either case, he looked away, tightening his jaw.
“There’s an espresso maker on the counter,” he said, aiming a finger towards his study. “Cream in the icebox by the standing lamp. Mugs in the cabinet. I just sent the spell to turn on the machine. It should be ready in a few minutes. Have as much as you want.”
“Gods, how many times did you call me a slag and a whore last year?” I asked, now getting annoyed myself. “And I wasn’t even doing anything. You can hardly get on me about teasing you, when it’s actually warranted.”
All his resolve seemed to go out the window the instant my words left my mouth.
He glared at me, and emotion flared shockingly in his eyes.
“I’m notshagginganyone, Shadow!” he snarled.
I blinked, more in surprise than anything.
Then I snorted, sitting back. “Right.”
Fury blazed in his gold irises. He glared at me, his hands curling into fists.
“You just helpfully pointed out what a patheticfuckI am… that I dance whenever my father says dance.” His stare narrowedon my face. “You know all about me, don’t you? You certainly seem to think you do. I don’t doanythingthat might displease my father. Which naturally implies I also do things I knowwillplease him, yes? Like going through women at a pace he approves of, thus reassuring him I’ll never grow attached to any one of them?”
I opened my mouth, about to laugh at him, to tell him he was absolutely ridiculous and mental and that was the stupidest thing I’d ever heard. But when I saw the look in his eyes, I didn’t. I closed my mouth for a few seconds instead, studying his expression incredulously.
“You’re shagging half the school for yourfather?”
“Notonlyfor him,” he retorted. “He asked me a number of pointed questions last year that I struggled to answer… and this seemed to be the only solution that satisfied him.”
