“Well done, Dilectus.” Zypher grinned as we reemerged outside.
“Sure, if the goal was to have Vallynn coming after you,” Gabriel hissed, his words a worried counterpoint to Zypher’s praise. “He’s the crown prince. You can’t just insult him like that and expect to get away with it, Bechora.”
“Oh, fuck him!” Shadrie snapped. “It’s not like he’s going to get his hands dirty, and I can ice any bitch he sends B’s way.”
I huffed out an annoyed breath. “It’s too early to argue about this. I get that what I did probably wasn’t the smartest move, but it would have been worse if I’d let the rest of the school think I’m weak prey. I know exactly how the students at this school treat prey.”
Gabriel flinched as if I’d struck him. I hadn’t meant to hurt him, but neither of us could deny he’d been the one to teach me that lesson.
“Fine,” he said after a moment. “But you’re shit at fighting—”
“What does that have to do with anything?” I demanded, interrupting him.
“If you’d let me finish. I was saying, you’re shit at fighting, but I can help you improve enough to defend yourself. We’ll start first thing in the morning and work on it outside of class.”
“I can’t,” I said, biting my bottom lip. My bond with Gabriel was completed, and he seemed all in now, but I wasn’t sure I could tell him what I was, and that I spent all my free time in the library or working with Zypher to hone my magic. As my mind worked to decide, Shadrie spoke, taking the decision outof my hands.
“She has to practice her Starcaller shit with Zypher. And we need her help going through the books the librarian finds about her abilities.” Shadrie paused, turning to me. “Speaking of, now that you and Fangs, over here, are totes bonded, any new abilities in the well?”
“Her what?” Gabriel asked.
“I’m not sure,” I replied at the same time.
Zypher clapped Gabriel on the shoulder and smiled at me. “Allow me to educate my bond brother on what you are, Dilectus. That will allow you and the ice mage to determine what new skills you’ve gained.”
“I knew I liked you, Triple D.” Shadrie grinned and winked. “You’re officially my favorite out of B’s mates.”
Zypher let out a full belly laugh while Gabriel stood there looking lost. “Well, I still need to feed her, but I will take your favoritism, ice mage.”
Miles came barreling toward us before anyone else could speak. When he reached our group, he pitched forward, placing his hands on his knees. His face was flushed, sweat dotting his brow as his entire body heaved with his effort to breathe. Miles raised a finger—the universal signal to wait—and gulped down another breath before taking a puff from an inhaler.
“Professor Thrackborne,” he panted.
My forehead scrunched in confusion. “What about him?”
Miles straightened to his full height as his breathing eased. “I was in the library reading over some loose pages Mrs. Fiodh gave me. They were some sort of journal entry, or something written in a language I didn’t recognize, but there was an old translation with them. I barely had a chance to skim the first page when Thrackborne startled me. He was just standing there, glaring at the pages. Demanded to know what I was doing with elven texts and why I was reading about Tinu Nall. I told him it was just academic curiosity, but I don’t think he believed me.”
“Tinu Nall?” Gabriel asked. I shot a glance at Zypher, catching his eye. My demon mate gave me a knowing nod and murmured an explanation to Gabriel, quietly.
“So, he was mad about it, but that doesn’t sound warpath-y to me,” Shadrie spoke.
Miles’ expression grew serious. “You didn’t see his face. Smoke was pouring out of his nose, and I swear I saw scales crawling up his arms. I was sure he was about to dragon out on me, but someone started yelling at the other end of the library. The second his head was turned, I got out, but it’s not like we can leave the academy. He’s going to catch up with me eventually.”
As if to add credence to his words, a loud roar sounded across the cobblestones. Miles’ eyes widened in fear, and his breath stuttered.
“That is definitely a pissed off dragon,” Gabriel said, causing Miles to blanch.
I swatted Gabriel’s chest before turning my attention back to Miles. “We should probably get you somewhere that isn’t out in the open.”
“Class,” Miles offered. “We have spellcasting, and Professor Snowthistle doesn’t allow students to be pulled out of her class.”
“Okay, that will do for now. We’ll figure out what to do once we’ve gotten you into the classroom.” I looked at my mates. “Zypher, Gabriel, can you two try to figure out why Thrackborne is so angry about those papers and see if you can… I don’t know, distract him or give him something else to focus on so he forgets about hunting down Miles?”
Zypher smiled, reaching into the messenger bag slung across his shoulder and pulling out a fruit bar. “Of course, Dilectus. Take this as well, since I was not able to feed you this morning.”
Gabriel frowned. “You just carry around snacks in your bag?”
“Of course.” Zypher smirked as I took the fruit bar from hishand. “You don’t?”
