“All right, Shadow,” he repeated. “You have a deal.”
I fought not to react too much, or let him see my relief.
Even so, while I still heard the reluctance in his voice, a steel lived behind his words, like we’d already signed a pact in blood. As if he heard my thoughts, his eyes glanced towards my monocerus, which was pawing at the gilded edge of his mostly-black duvet.
“I think we’re probably beyond needing to bind it through our primals,” he said. “But we might as well make it official.”
His gold eyes flickered to mine before I could manage to get the relief out of my expression. Briefly, a harder, more vicious look returned to his. A wave of gold and green fire curled through his irises, causing me to stare.
“I have one more condition, mongrel,” he added next.
His jaw tightened as he held my gaze. He folded his arms.
“It’s about our mutual friend, Strangemore,” he said. “In case you’ve forgotten why you ended up in my room last night.” His gold eyes grew deadly. “It’s also utterly fucking non-negotiable.”
20
Repercussions
Present Day
October 20th
Malcroix Mansion
Malcroix Bones Academy
Ashoulder hit into me, hard, making me gasp before I turned my head, meeting the cold, furious eyes of a mage a few years older than me, one I’d never even spoken to before.
When I opened my mouth to say something, he cut me off.
“Cunt. Hope you’re happy.”
The mage walking next to him spit at me, and I barely managed to push it off with a spell so that it hit the carpeted floor instead. I stared at the two of them, half in disbelief. The red-haired mage glared back, unapologetic.
“We’ll likely lose the cup this year, thanks to you,” he growled. “Bitch.”
Another of his friends raised his hand in a mudra, and I caught it, just in time.
I saw the swirl of magic coil around his peacock primal’s feathers right before he would have structured it enough to throw it in my direction. I instinctively yanked on my own magic, erecting a quick shield. I’d already raised my hand to counterattack, when a burst of light slammed into the mage’s chest.
It knocked him violently into the wall, making his eyes bug out in shock.
He stood there, panting, and a number of Magicals around me came to a stop. They stared at me first, then seemed to be looking for the source of the spell.
I’d felt the magic flash by me, so I at least knew the direction it had come from.
When I glanced that way, I saw Draken standing there, eyes blazing.
“Try that shit again, and I’ll do more than give you a little shove,” Draken snarled, breathing hard. “Attacking a witch without warning, all because she dared to complain for being drugged and assaulted?” He glared around at the mages standing there, and a few witches, too. “What kind of waste-of-spacewankersare you?”
A crowd had started to gather, drawn by the commotion.
Some were now glaring at Draken after his speech, although I couldn’t help noticing that most of the general venom and anger remained reserved for me. The short, dark-haired mage who’d been about to attack me pulled himself off the wall, breathing harder.
I realized I recognized from my flying course in first year.
He glared between me and Draken, his hands back up in attack position, the fury in his eyes darker when he realized he might be out-matched unless more witches and mages stepped in to help. So far, no one in the hall seemed eager to do that.
