That couldn’t be right. Violet glanced down and her frown deepened at the thin line surrounded by a faint swipe of blood. She sniffed haughtily. “It hurt.”
Still smiling, he placed the lightest kiss over the cut. “Better?”
Violet’s mouth dried and tingles erupted where his lips touched her skin. “Yes,” she somehow managed to say.
Bending over, he scooped up one of the closest chickens and petted its head. “Grab the drops.”
The drops were made for fae children, and the concentrated formula knocked the small chickens out cold in no time. “You’re sure this won’t kill them?” Roman asked warily.
Violet stared down at the limp birds. “I asked the animal healer in town if the night drops were safe for animals. She said yes.”
“I doubt she thought you meant chickens,” Roman deadpanned.
Violet ignored him. “You take two, and I’ll take two.”
Once they had the chickens safely inside the palace walls, a feat in and of itself, they snuck upstairs to the school rooms. Roman tried the door handle. “It’s locked. How do you plan to get us inside?”
Violet gently set her chickens on the ground and dug out small tools from one of her pockets. “I’m going to break in.”
Roman muttered something under his breath about pockets and covered the keyhole with his hand. “How do you know how to pick locks?”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Roman Covington.” She popped his hand to move it out of the way. “They’ll never know it was us.”
He squatted down beside her. “I didn’t take you for a criminal.”
She went to work on the lock like her uncle had shown her. He was a locksmith in town and had taught her all sorts of tricks when she was younger. He’d thought it was hilarious when she’d showed her father the new tricks she’d learned. Her father had not. “If I’m a criminal, you’re my accomplice.”
When the door opened, the two gathered their hopefully-not-dead birds and snuck inside.
After setting everything up, Roman stared warily at the chickens. “Will they wake up by morning?”
Violet pushed her hair out of her face and threw the feathered beasts a worried look of her own. “I hope so.”
* * *
The next morning, exhaustion plagued Roman’s body, but he didn’t care. He jumped out of bed and readied for school faster than he ever had before, wanting to arrive early to see the look on Ms. Bonner’s face when she opened the door.
After scarfing down breakfast in his rooms, he hurried downstairs and careened around the corner to find Violet waiting on the second-floor landing. “Has Ms. Bonner arrived yet?” he whispered in her ear from behind.
Violet gasped and whirled around. “Don’t do that! You’re going to give me a heart attack. And no, she’s not here yet.”
“I’ll glamour us, and we can wait by the door.” He cloaked them both in magic and urged Violet forward.
She turned in his direction and visibly shivered. “I hate that I can’t see you. It feels like I’m talking to myself.”
When they stopped, he reached around her and tapped the back of her shoulder. She spun around with a choked gasp, and he had to muffle his laughter. “You’re ridiculous,” she hissed, swatting at the air but missing him completely.
Roman had never had fun like he had the night before, and seeing Violet in her dirty dress, screaming as chickens chased her, had made a fondness bloom within him. He absentmindedly wondered how she’d explain to her mother why her dress sported a hole in the arm and chicken droppings.
At the reminder of her arm, he glanced down and cupped it gently. “Is your near-fatal wound okay today?”
The scratch had been small, but seeing her blood had made his own run cold. He’d fought to keep his face light and teasing, but to his surprise, all Roman had wanted to do was snap the chicken’s neck and carry her away from the others. The irrational urge should have worried him, but it didn’t. Something deep inside him liked the idea of being her protector.
Violet pulled out of his hold and lifted her chin. “It still stings.”
Roman considered her arm and tapped his finger against his pants leg. “I’ll bring you a salve this afternoon.”
“You don’t have to do that. I’m sure my mother has something.”
