“For one, she’s protected by the Dark Council and Headmaster Church, not to mention Wolfram Brandt has personally taken her under his wing. I suppose I could just kill her, but murder is a bit extreme for a first resort, wouldn’t you agree?” I don’t respond. “She’s too much of an unknown to remove from the board right now. I need to see what she becomes and whether she can be of any use with all the upset she’s caused. If she amounts to nothing—as most do—you can do whatever you want with her.” He waves, sipping his favorite scotch.
“Yeah that’s theonlyreason, Mr. Roth ‘pretty bird’ Kovacs.” Killian scoffs, and Roth’s black eyes flash in the firelight.
“Do you have a problem with that, mutt? Or are you the only one allowed to chase thepretty birdas she flits around, singing so sweetly of defiance waiting to be brought to heel?” Killian says nothing, crossing his arms instead.
“The fact that we’re even having this conversation is reason enough to get rid of her?—”
“Enough,” Thane orders with the deep growl of his demon, blue eye flashing white. “No one’s saying you have to be fucking besties. But you’re not going to fucking hurt her.”Again. That last word is left unsaid, but it hangs in the silence nonetheless.
“My father informed me earlier that in addition to the Beauchamps, your Houses will be joining us for Saturnalia dinner,” Roth mentions a few moments later.
“Jesus, talk about a fucking boner-killer.” Killian downs the rest of his beer and sets the empty bottle on the table. “What do we have to do?”
“We’re all required to attend the dinner with our families, but I’m working on an excuse to stay elsewhere for the rest of Winter break afterward.”
“I still think we should train Xaphan to shit on command,” he leans back and sulks, muttering about strawberries being out of season.
“Do so at your own risk,” Roth warns.
“Maybe I’ll just let my demon do it and blame it on Xaphan. Now there’s an idea!” he exclaims, which lightens the somber mood. At least until Roth ruins it.
“Thane—your father will be there as well.”
“Fucking wonderful,” he mutters. “Guess I couldn’t ignore him forever.”
“Has he said anything else?” Killian asks, arms behind his head.
“Just more shit about the future of our House. I figured he just found another sacrifice to his ego to marry, but he hasn’t mentioned a new wife yet.”
Killian hums. “Maybe he heard about your dad’s betrothal deal with the Beauchamps?”he looks to Roth for confirmation.
“That’s just what we need, more women sniffing around,” I mutter.
“I’d trade places with you any day.” Thane scoffs, and then immediately freezes and grimaces at his own faux pas. “Fuck, I didn’t mean it like that?—”
“Don’t worry about it,” I shrug, but his apology doesn’t staunch the bleeding from his cutting words. They think being a spare means freedom from the expectations of being Heir.
The truth is, no one cares about betrothals and bloodlines when you’re sittingnextto the throne.
No one cares about you at all.
25
NYX
“So… ghosts?”
“Ghosts.”
“And spirits?”
“And spirits.”
“What’s the difference?” I ask Milo over breakfast on Monday. We’ve been getting to know each other over the last couple days since the Masquerade—which I refuse to think about right now—and it turns out I like whatever’s wrong with him.
Which is a lot, considering he likes peanut butter on his bacon.
That boy ain’t right.
