Page 9 of Heartflame

There was a pause, then the werewolf let out a low laugh. “Hey! I wanted to play with it first!”

“Fine, we’ll go,” Lysander said, and I heard rustling sounds as they started gathering themselves. “But Quill, you’re missing out on the best part of college.”

“The best part is getting my degree,” I muttered, pretending to read the same paragraph for the third time. “And I plan to make sure I get it.”

“C’s get degrees, my friend,” Lysander said. I could hear the grin in his voice. “Besides, I doubt you’re gonna learn anything here that’s useful out in the real world.”

“We’ll never know if I don’t study,” I shot back. “Now please, leave me alone.”

The door closed behind them with a soft click, and I finally let out the breath I’d been holding. I turned back to my textbook, but my concentration was shot. All I could think about was the fact that my roommate was apparently the type of person who could just... existed in a state of constant sexual availability, while I was over here trying to figure out the molecular structure of powdered moonstone.

I didn’t want to admit that a part of me was jealous. My sexual exploits in college were limited to just one mistake I made back in freshman year. I gave a senior I’d been seeing for nearly a week a blowjob and the next day he pretended not to know who I was. Either he was using me or I was really just that truly bad at blowjobs. I hoped it wasn’t the latter. But it left a bad taste in my mouth nonetheless, so I hadn’t bothered to get involved with anyone since.

I read the same paragraph four times before giving up. Instead, I pulled out my notebook and started working through the practice problems Professor Borago had assigned. At least with potion theory, there were right answers. Clear, definitive, measurable results. Not like people, who were messy and unpredictable and full of surprises you didn’t want.

Like dragons who thought they could just run you over and not even apologize for it.

I found myself clenching my jaw again and forced myself to relax. This was stupid. I was letting this stupid guy get to me, just like Greg had said. But Aeron Pyre didn’t matter. He was just some dragon who’d probably never had to work for anything in his life. He’d coast through this semester on his family name and his lineage, and then go back to whatever privileged existence he came from. Meanwhile, I’d be here actually trying to build something.

By the time midnight rolled around, I’d finished most of my weekend homework and was feeling reasonably accomplished. My shoulders were sore from the run, my eyes were tired from reading, and I was ready to crash. I changed into pajamas and collapsed onto my bed, grateful for the quiet that Lysander’s absence had provided.

But there in the dark, my mind started to wander once more. I thought about Greg and Lysander and those two guys in his bed. Clearly all of them were having a much better time than I was here at Widdershins. A small voice in my head, the one that had been silenced until now, tried to reason with me. My homework for next week was done, I had everything in order, and I’d even have all of Saturday and Sunday during the day to put extra work in if I wanted. So… maybe going to that party wasn’t such a bad idea?

No. I was not going to that party. That was the kind of thinking that got people into trouble, and the world was already in enough trouble without adding more to the pot. Besides, what would I even do there? Stand around nursing a drink while everyone else paired off and got lost in each other? Watch Lysander work the room like he owned it while I stood in the corner like some kind of social pariah?

I rolled over in bed, punching my pillow into a more comfortable shape. The problem with my brain was that it never knew when to shut up. Even when I’d made a decision, it kept circling back, kept offering up alternatives, kept suggesting that maybe I was being too rigid, too controlled, too much of a stick in the mud.

That was probably true, if I was being honest with myself. But honest or not, I wasn’t changing my mind about the party. I couldn’t. Besides, Aeron Pyre would probably be there.

The voice offered another though. What if he was? It might be a good place to publicly humiliate him.

I felt my lips pull into a soft smile. That would be delicious, making that dragon squirm in front of everyone. Show them that the Elder Council leader’s grandson was nothing more than an over-inflated asshole. Then maybe he’d stop being such an insufferable dick. At the very least, it would make me feel better, and I could stop thinking about him calling me ‘Red’ over and over again.

I snuggled into my pillow, the smile still on my face.

Tomorrow I was going to a party.

Chapter 5

Quill

The music inside the frat house was thumping. I stood outside, listening to the bass line bleed through the walls. Was this… Brittany Spears?

Any music was a bit of a rarity on the Widdershins campus without enchanting instruments yourself. But hearing pop hits from nearly thirty years ago… that was unheard of. How the hell had they figured out how to get a stereo system to work on campus? The wards were the magic that messed with technology, making everything except clockwork impossible to use. And now there were even more wards than ever. Did someone figure out how to make a clockwork stereo? That seemed… not possible?

All I could do was shrug. I supposed I’d figure it out when I went inside, mostly just to satiate my curiosity. However, I had much more important things to do. Things that involved bringing that asshole dragon down a peg or two.

I took a deep breath and pushed through the front door, the music hitting me like a kick to the sternum. The bass thrummed through my chest, and I had to squint against the strobing magical lights that had been set up in the main living area. Bodies pressed against bodies on what I assumed was supposed to be a dance floor, and the air was thick with the smell of alcohol and sweat.

Greg spotted me almost immediately from across the room and waved, a huge grin spreading across his face. I gave him a tight nod but didn’t make my way over. Instead, I scanned the crowd, looking for a set of red scales and an irritating smirk.

It didn’t take long to find him.

Aeron was holding court in the corner of the room like he owned the place, surrounded by a cluster of admiring students who looked absolutely mesmerized by every word coming out of his mouth. He was recounting some story, his scaled hands gesturing dramatically, and the crowd around him was eating it up. A few people were actually laughing, their heads thrown back in genuine amusement. And more than a few had their hands on him, desperate for his attention. But for now, it looked like he was just stringing them along.

My jaw clenched. I knew he’d be here. And of course he was already the center of attention at a party that had barely started.

I made my way to the kitchen, grabbing a drink from a cooler someone had set up on the counter. The beer was warm and tasted not great, but I drank it anyway, using the time to formulate a plan. I couldn’t just walk up to him and start an argument, that would make me look like the aggressor. But if I could catch him in a moment of weakness, or set up some sort of trap that he would walk right into… that might just do it.